Professional Conduct
by Goopy Sentimentalist
Summary: There is a rule that being romantically involved with your boss is trouble. But Elena knows there are exceptions to every rule, and Turks are masters at bending and breaking rules. Takes place during AC and after. On indefinite hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

Professional Conduct – Chapter 1

Disclaimer – I don't own Final Fantasy, the characters, etc. Some of the script from the AC movie was used, so that doesn't belong to me either. ^_^

The sky darkened as the helicopter sped towards the Northern Crater. Four Turks sat silently inside as Reno pulled the chopper close to its gaping maw. Dark gray clouds obscured their vision, but Reno pulled in as close as he could to the bottom of the crater. The hum of the helicopter became a roar as Tseng pushed the door open and unfurled the ladder. From here, he and Elena would climb to the base while Reno and Rude waited at a higher altitude.

"Do you think it's actually down here, sir?" asked Elena as they reached the ground. When the president had briefed them on the mission, he tried his best to describe what they were to look for, but he had expressed his doubts as to whether or not they would actually find anything. Sephiroth had been killed at the hands of Cloud Strife, but whether or not he was completely gone was still up for debate. There was also the issue of Jenova and whether it had disappeared. The president had insisted that they investigate in any case, as penance to the planet and its people .

"I'm not sure," replied Tseng. "We'll know when – if – we see it." The two began searching the ground for the remains of Sephiroth, still unsure of what exactly they would uncover. They were silent for quite some time, concentrating on any detail of the ground that seemed out of place, the crunch of shoes on gravel the only noise. Suddenly, something caught Elena's eye, and she stepped towards it.

"Tseng! Look at this," she said, pointing to a large dark puddle on the ground. It would have been identical to water, except it had the faint green glow of mako.

He smiled grimly. "Pay dirt."

"Not a pretty sight, is it?" she commented, looking down at it with disgust. Tseng took out a small black box and a pair of heavy gloves and knelt next to the puddle. The box was designed by the science department at Shinra to hold whatever volatile thing they might encounter here, including the head of a thousand year old alien. Tseng knelt down next to the puddle, pulling on the gloves and trying to ignore the fact that he was likely holding onto a part of either Sephiroth or Jenova and shoving it into a box.

"Who cares? Just get the damn thing," Reno muttered into the radio.

"Reno, the chopper," said Tseng, ignoring the redhead's comment.

"You got it." The helicopter lowered itself to where the two were. Without warning, he was nearly deafened by the sound of gunfire coming through his headset. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he shouted.

"Reno, hurry!" came Elena's desperate voice. "Reno!"

It had gotten even darker and more oppressive near the bottom of the crater, if that was even possible. Rude had jumped out of his seat and stood at the door, gun cocked and ready. He was met with a box narrowly missing his face. It slid to the other side of the helicopter unharmed. The gunfire continued, but the mission was accomplished. There weren't supposed to be any casualties on this mission, but Rude and Reno knew that it could change at any second. Whoever – or whatever- was down there could easily take them down. And they knew that they had to leave immediately, or the mission would fail.

Elena bit back a grunt as her head met the rocks, her gun flying from her hand. She held her head up, looking over at the three men who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Elena!" Tseng shouted, running over to her side.

"Go! Get out of here!" she shouted into the two-way radio. Tseng felt himself knocked backwards. A young man with silver hair pulled him back up by his collar.

"Mother was here. Where is she?" he hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tseng said, with a hint of defiance in his voice.

"She was here!" he shouted, and threw Tseng down with unexpected strength. He hit the ground with a sickening crack.

"Stop it!" cried Elena, looking somewhere between furious and heartbroken. The three men looked over at her. She stood up, using the wall of the crater for support.

"Quiet." The younger man glared at Elena.

"You know, Kadaj, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she has feelings for this man," said the long haired man.

A twisted smile curled onto the younger man's – Kadaj's – lips. "Yeah, maybe you're right, Yazoo." Kadaj nodded to the oldest looking man. "Loz?"

The man with short hair stepped towards her in large strides. Elena took a step back, preparing to defend herself against Loz. Before he could get too close, she threw her leg out in a low kick. But Loz was faster, grabbing Elena's foot and throwing her to the ground. Sharp pain shot through her body, a soft moan escaping her lips. While the pain was still fresh, Loz grabbed her by her jacket and pulled her up, shoving her against him. He smelled of leather and mako, a potent combination. He needed only one arm around her waist to hold her.

She saw Kadaj and Yazoo circling Tseng like Nibel wolves circling their prey. She turned away, only to have Loz jerk her head back forward. She wanted to close her eyes, but her body wouldn't listen.

"What did you find here?" asked Yazoo, tilting his head, a smirk on his lips, as though he already knew.

"Not a thing," Tseng growled.

"Ah ah ah, wrong answer_,"_ said Kadaj. He unsheathed a double bladed sword from his back and moved it along Tseng's jaw in an almost loving caress, leaving a thin line of blood.

Elena tried to elbow Loz, but her arm was pinned too tightly. She was already helpless, but watching her superior tortured was more than she could bear.

"We know you have something," said Yazoo. Tseng said nothing. Kadaj moved the sword from Tseng's jaw and pressed the tip of it into his stomach. Tseng let out an involuntary cry of pain as the sword pierced through the first layer of muscle. Kadaj smiled.

Taking a deep breath, a sudden surge of adrenaline ran through her, she heaved herself away from Loz, her mind bent on getting her gun and putting a bullet in each of these monsters' heads. Loz didn't expect it, and in the confusion, she managed to escape his grasp. She made a move forwards to where her gun had fallen.

Suddenly, a shot rang out and Elena felt white hot pain burst through her right shoulder. She fell to the ground. In the split second it took for her to instinctively grab her shoulder, Loz yanked her back up.

"Try anything like that again, girlie, and playtime's over," Loz growled into her ear. Her vision went dark as Loz grabbed the injured shoulder. Her body sagged; she was getting dizzy. Loz roughly forced her upright, his arm pushing against her ribs. Blood ran down her front. The bullet had been lodged inside.

_I'm going to die, _she thought. She looked at Tseng, his face shiny with sweat. _We both are._

"I'll ask you this one more time," Kadaj snarled, his smile morphing into a scowl. "Where is Mother?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," gasped Tseng. He was out of breath, but there was determination in his voice.

"Liar." Kadaj's voice was flat as he lifted up the sword and jammed it into Tseng's shoulder. When Tseng screamed, Elena gritted her teeth and shut her eyes. Tseng didn't move. Kadaj and Yazoo looked down at him without any emotion. She began to shake with rage. She flexed her hands, waiting for the moment when she could rip the men in front of her from limb to limb.

"Think the girl will talk?" asked Yazoo. The two turned to her.

"Go to hell," she hissed.

"Guess not," he said, with indifference. He raised his gun.

"Watch it, Yazoo," said Loz warningly. She took advantage of the distraction to elbow him in the gut and run towards Tseng, but Yazoo's gun was faster. She crashed to the ground, landing hard on her side, clenching her leg where the bullet hit.

A rough hand forced her onto her back. She looked up and saw Loz standing above her, no longer smiling sadistically. He pushed her coat open.

_Please no. I'm already going to-_, she thought, before realizing that Loz had just taken her Shinra ID and took Tseng's as well.

"Let's go," said Kadaj.

"Should we finish them off?" asked Yazoo.

"Nah, they're gonna die here anyway. Even if that helicopter comes back, they'll be too late," he said, waving his hand dismissively. They left, disappearing into the thick fog. All was silent.

The pain in Elena's leg had dulled to a deep throb. She gasped in pain as she dragged herself towards Tseng, trying hard to avoid getting gravel in the wound.

_Did he hit my artery?_ she wondered. _…No, I'd be dead by now._

"Sir, wake up," she said, surprised at how weak her voice was. She took a look at where he'd been stabbed. She took off her coat and ripped the arm off easily due to the bullet hole. She bit her lip; the motion causing a jolt of pain in her shoulder. _I have to stop that bleeding._ His face was ghostly pale.

She lifted his shoulder up so she could get the cloth around his shoulder and he hissed, though his eyes didn't open.

"Sorry sir, but otherwise you're going to bleed to death," she said. Fresh tears welled up in her eyes, but she concentrated on tightening the cloth around his shoulder. The holes in his stomach were going to be harder to cover.

"Elena, stop."

"Sir?"

"Don't bother," he said, his voice gravelly.

"I'm not going to let you bleed to death," she said, tying the last knot in the makeshift bandage. The action caused a throb of pain in her shoulder and she looked down, only to find a bright red splotch. She groaned as a wave of fatigue hit her. She did not want to fall asleep here, but her body was shutting down and she her eyelids got heavy.

_No!_ Elena thought as she distracted herself by tearing a long piece of cloth from the bottom of her shirt. She undid the last two buttons of Tseng's shirt and pushed the fabric away from the two holes where Kadaj's sword had cut. She had to look away momentarily at the sight of the ugly purple wounds.

"Elena…"

"Don't try to talk sir," she said, trying to sound as professional as possible.

"It looks like this is where it ends for us," he said, letting out a pained chuckle. "Our own sins…coming full circle."

"I don't intend to die, sir, and I'm not letting you either." She wasn't sure where the confident words had come from, but they both needed to hear it, and she wanted it to be true. She realized she needed to attend to her own injuries, but she was running out of fabric, and the brief surge of adrenaline she felt moments ago was dissipating.

The throbbing in her shoulder intensified as she pulled the cloth tight around his middle, watching with despair as deep red blossomed on the cloth. She lay down next to Tseng, fatigue finally winning out.

"Don't go to sleep," she told Tseng. He didn't respond, but he was still breathing, soft and shallow. She yawned and tried to force herself to stay awake, though sleep promised a release from the pain. Her grip on consciousness was fading fast, and she could no longer fight the lure of sleep.

* * *

A/N – Phew. BIG huge thanks to chibipinkbunny, who read this through not once but twice and really whipped it into shape. I could not have done this without her help. And yeah, I know the whole torture scene has been done before, but hey, now there's one more interpretation of what happened down there.


	2. Chapter 2

_Even though Elena knew what was going to happen, she was still nervous. Tseng had told her to meet him in the hospital outside of room 227. When she got there, he was already standing outside the room's window, hands clasped behind his back._

_I'm not late, am I? she wondered, stealing a quick glance at the clock. Five minutes to eleven. She breathed a small sigh of relief. _

"_Good morning, Elena," he said, with a friendly, albeit formal nod. "I trust you know why I called you here."_

"_I think so, sir," she said, looking through the window. Reno was laying on the bed, sleeping. He had quite a few bruises from the encounter with AVALANCHE on the Sector 7 tower. _

"_You're being promoted," Tseng said and nodded towards the room. "With Reno out of commission, we need everyone, especially now."_

_Well, that was anticlimactic, she thought. But then again, Turks were more likely to be promoted in times of need with the promoter being the only witness. After all, a Turk's job was hardly cause for celebration. _

_He gave her a wry smile that sent a jolt through her stomach. "Congratulations."_

"_Thank you, sir," she said, looking away so that he wouldn't see the blush on her cheeks. "How's Reno doing?"_

"_He'll make it," said Tseng, his voice more austere than usual. "It seems Lady Luck decided to deal him one more winning hand. But none of know how long the generosity will last." He turned to look her in the eye. "Our skills are unmatched, Elena, but we're still mortal, with all the flaws that come with it." _

-X-

_3 days later_

Sunlight shone through the slats of the blinds onto the wooden floors. The bright light belied the freezing temperatures outside at Icicle Inn, the nearest town to the Northern Crater. Vincent had found the two snuggled together at the bottom of the crater, no doubt trying to keep warm. They were both bloody messes, their once immaculate clothes ripped and dirty. He had done his best to tend to their injuries, but he was a gunman, not a doctor. However, there happened to be a nurse at Icicle Inn, and had it not been for her, he doubted the two Turks would have made it.

But he was most interested as to why they had been so badly hurt. Many people disliked the Turks, including himself, but not enough to kill them, especially when they had their own lives to rebuild. He searched the area. The lack of light and rocky terrain made it impossible to find any evidence of who had nearly killed the two Turks. When he looked them over, he found their IDs were missing, meaning that someone probably had it in for the Shinra company.

The first time Elena had woken up, she realized that her suit was gone, replaced by a simple long sleeved white shirt and sweatpants. An elderly woman walked into the room, carrying some fresh bandages. "You're awake."

"Where am I?" asked Elena, still groggy.

"Icicle Inn," she said. "You both were in horrible shape. Shall we change those bandages now?"

"Okay," groaned Elena, too tired and achy to argue. The woman helped her out of the shirt to put fresh bandages on the injuries. She felt a sharp stabbing pain in her leg and shoulder, and she felt as though she'd been hit by a truck.

There was a crisp knock at the door. "Come in," said the woman, taking the old bandages and leaving. Vincent entered the room, his cape billowing behind him. He leaned against the wall. Elena's eyes widened.

"Vincent Valentine?" she asked in disbelief. She didn't know him all that well, but he had joined with AVALANCHE two years ago and fought against Shinra and the Turks, despite having been one himself. His height and the way he held himself made him look rather imposing.

"Hmm?"

"Well…it's just that I wasn't expecting you," she said quietly.

"If I brought you back to Shinra, you likely would have been killed by whoever did this to you," he said quietly and firmly.

"Oh." Elena remembered that her ID had been stolen. "So you were the one who brought us back."

"You want something to eat? You're probably hungry," he said, standing straight up again. Elena wondered why he was so eager to leave the room. But when she thought about what had happened to him, she understood why he wouldn't be so eager to help out those working for Shinra.

"Yeah…" she replied sleepily. Vincent brought her some soup, then left again without a backward glance, leaving her alone with a sleeping Tseng as she ate her soup. It was a generous serving, and Elena hadn't realized how hungry she was.

She looked over at Tseng, his face stern and severe, even in his sleep. She set aside the tray and lay back down, but soon realized that she really had to use the bathroom. She was exhausted, but knew she wouldn't be able to sleep if she didn't get up and take care of it. With quite a bit of reluctance, she pulled herself into a sitting position and set her feet on the floor. She limped to the hallway, pain shooting up her leg. Thankfully, the bathroom was next door.

By the time she got back, her leg felt like it was on fire and the bed suddenly appeared miles away. She spotted a chair next to Teng's bed. She sat down and the pain subsided marginally. Strands of hair fell over his face. _It's probably pretty itchy_, she thought reasonably, reaching out with her good arm to brush aside his hair, letting her hand linger on his cheek.

His eyes opened. Her hand shot back and she felt her face redden considerably. He looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Something on my face?" he asked with a hint of amusement.

"…No," she mumbled, trying to keep from smiling. Given that he was so serious most of the time, she felt special to be the one to see him relaxed, if only for a moment. He gazed around the room for a moment.

"Where are we?" he asked, his voice returning to its usual businesslike tone.

"Icicle Inn. Vincent Valentine brought us here," she replied.

"Vincent, huh? Is he here now?"

"Yes."

"I should speak to him," said Tseng. He tried to sit up, and let out a hiss of pain.

"Are you alright, sir?" asked Elena, moving to help him.

"Could you give me a moment?" he asked, keeping his head down.

"Oh. Of course," she said, feeling a sting of pain that didn't come from her injuries. She slowly got up and limped to the doorway. She leaned against the wall, listening to Vincent talking on the phone and the nurse bustling around in the kitchen down the hallway. The room she'd left was silent, but Tseng's pained face was burned in her mind. _Tseng, we're both in pain now…you don't have to go it alone, _she thought.

_You know, Kadaj, if I didn't know any better, I'd say she has feelings for this man._

The memory came unbidden to her and her eyes shot wide open. It was unlikely that Tseng would remember that fleeting comment. After all, he was probably in too much pain, and there were a lot more pressing things that had been said and done.

_Right?_

She had simply done as any Turk would have for the Director. They were loyal to the very end. It was not as though she could have gone climbing out of the crater; her wounds were bleeding out just like Tseng's were. Doing her best to dress Tseng's wounds had seemed like the only thing to do in desperate times. Tseng would have done the same for her if he'd been in her place.

_Right?_

It had been quiet in the room for some time, so Elena poked her head into the room only to barely miss running into Tseng.

"Careful, there," he said, placing a hand on her good shoulder briefly before walking down the hallway. His movement was stiff, though Elena could tell he was trying his best to hide it.

"What are you doing out of bed?" came the surprised nurse's voice.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you've done, but we should return to the president," said Tseng, his voice sounding strained, like he was having a hard time talking.

"He's got the other two, doesn't he?" asked Vincent, stepping forward. He had been standing against the kitchen wall, arms crossed.

"Well, I'm not allowing it," said the nurse firmly. "You could open up your wounds again and then what?"

"We dedicated our lives to the president and nothing you or anyone else says can change that. I just wanted to thank you for your troubles before we left," said Tseng, before nodding to them and turning back towards the room. After he was out of sight of the nurse and Vincent, he used the wall for support. Tseng took a deep breath and he gritted his teeth and moved forward.

"Sir-?"

"I'm fine," he said through his teeth. She hurried over as best she could, though it hurt her quite a bit as well.

_No, you're not,_ thought Elena. She moved to take his good arm. He stiffened at first, but resigned himself to her help, but unable to look at her as they walked slowly back to the room.

"They're right," she said. "Rude and Reno are with the president, it's not like he's alone."

"I'm not just going to sit here, Elena, and wait. If they did this to us, then what chance do the other two have?"

"They're not incompetent." It took her a split second to clap a hand over her mouth, realizing what she had said. Tseng looked back at her, his eyes boring into hers, his expression hard.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it."

"No, you're right. I got caught off guard, and if Vincent hadn't found us, we would be dead," he said, his voice hard.

"We both were surprised," said Elena, realizing that he was blaming himself entirely.

"I said.- forget it," said Tseng, shaking his head. "I'm going to find some way to get back."

She bit her lip. _Tseng, please. _

Tseng looked at her and sighed. "Elena, we have to get back. It's our job."

"I know what our job is, sir," said Elena defensively. "I'm not a rookie anymore. But you didn't demand that Reno go back right after the sector 7 incident, did you? Why expect that from yourself?"

"I've been through worse, Elena."

Elena sighed, remembering the incident at the Temple of the Ancients. "You're right. But still-,"

"Enough!" exclaimed Tseng. His face softened when he saw her hurt expression. " I just can't stand waiting here doing nothing while the president is in danger," he said quietly.

"Neither can I. But we can't be there for him if we die, can we?" Her voice was quiet but insistent.

"No," Tseng relented, sitting down on the bed. He suddenly looked very tired and haggard.

"Please try to rest, Tseng," said Elena, giving him a tentative smile. She was unable to hold back a yawn. "The more rest we get now, the sooner we can be in a position to help the president." She went to her own bed and lay down. Tseng watched her for a moment, before going back to sleep himself.

Their suits were beyond repair, so the two had no choice but to travel back to Edge in the clothes they had woken up in. Vincent had told them the reports about three silver haired men that had been seen around Edge.

"We should stop by the office," said Elena. The office had plenty of weapons as well as spare suits.

"Right," said Tseng. If years of Turk training hadn't repressed it, he would have been fidgeting. As it was, he was blinking like he had something in his eye and his lips were drawn taught against clenched teeth. It was subtle, something that only Elena could catch.

Rude and Reno had been too busy watching out for the president, and the few other employees who knew Tseng and Elena had no idea where they were, so it was a civilian helicopter that ended up taking them back, though the pilot had no idea who they were.

"You both alright back there? I can turn up the heat if you want," said the pilot.

"We're fine," yelled Tseng over the roar of the helicopter. Elena knew that they were both cold, but heat would put them to sleep. Tseng was purposely keeping them on edge so they wouldn't be caught off guard this time. The flight was only a few hours long.

"Thank you very much," said Elena, flashing the pilot a grateful smile when they had touched down. Tseng gave the pilot little more than a brief nod before hurrying off the helicopter towards their unmarked office.

It was the weekend, so most of the employees weren't present. Tseng and Elena quickly changed into their familiar uniforms and then headed off together to weapons storage. The two stocked as many weapons as they could store, not knowing what they would need.

It was then that the tremors started. They were small vibrations at first, but it evolved quickly into a loud crash that sent Elena stumbling into Tseng. He grabbed her arms to steady her. Tiny bits of plaster fell off the ceiling.

"Umm…sir?" asked Elena.

"What?" he asked. She nodded towards his hands. He looked down as well, realizing that his hands still held Elena. He pulled his hands back and cleared his throat.

"Let's go," he said.

She nodded. Even after he had let go, Elena still felt his strong hands on her arms, warm and comforting. They ran out of the building and into streets only to find streets filled with masses of people running, knocking each other over, trying desperately to escape from the frightening dark monsters that chased after them.

Tseng and Elena exchanged grim looks and charged out into the fray.

A/N - Big thanks to chibipinkbunny for all her help in beta-ing and reviewing the chapter. Mistakes have been corrected as suggested by her. X3


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The two Turks ran down the dank alleyway towards the commotion, unnoticed. The populace was frantic, running in every direction to get away from the ominous creatures that had suddenly spawned in Edge. "Where are all these things coming from?" shouted Elena.

"Probably by the same men who attacked us," replied Tseng. The office had been a fair distance from the center of Edge and Elena was counting on Tseng, who had taken it upon himself to learn about the setup of Edge, to be her guide. He paused for a moment when he came upon an intersection. His eyes darted back and forth before he ran to the left, deeper into the alleyway maze. One of the black creatures ran towards them, and Tseng whipped out his pistol and shot the beast while it was in mid-air, just seconds from pouncing on him. The monster dissipated into a fine black mist.

There was yet another quake. When Tseng and Elena reached the square, she saw the towering form of Bahamut just ahead. _They've got summons now? This isn't good, _she thought. But as she looked onward, she noticed that the massive beast wasn't going for the crowd near the ground. Instead, it seemed to be drawn towards some scaffolding nearby. As she strained her eyes, she could make out a red quadruped, a man with a gun arm, and the red cape that could only belong to Vincent Valentine, which meant that…

"AVALANCHE is here!" she exclaimed.

"Excellent," said Tseng tightly. "They've got this covered; we should go find those men." She nodded, and they took off down the street to the left. The street was scarred with black char marks, as if something had exploded recently.

"Where are we?" asked Elena.

"This road leads to the highway," said Tseng. "But I don't know-," His voice was cut off by a violent burst of light above them, heading right towards someone wearing a very distinctive white suit. Without speaking, they ran ahead to get as close as possible. The light exploded into fire causing the president to go flying off the edge of the building.

"Sir, no!" came the voices of Rude and Reno. The president began to shoot at the box that they had found at the crater, trying desperately to put a hole in the box to destroy its contents. Kadaj jumped after him, reaching out for the box, precious seconds ticking by as they both neared the ground.

Elena pushed herself to go faster, her muscles starting to tense up. Tseng burst onto the scene and stopped, pulling out the net launcher. Elena skidded to a halt several feet away from him and they both fired the net launchers. The nets unfurled just in time to catch the president before he crashed into the ground.

Her shoulders slumped in relief and she and Tseng smiled at each other briefly. Kadaj landed on the ground nimbly. With the box grasped under his arm, he jumped on his motorcycle and sped off. In her hurry to catch the president, she hadn't seen the other two silver haired men who jumped on their motorcycles as well. There was a loud roar as Cloud Strife zoomed after Kadaj. The chase was on.

The four Turks had no chance to exchange words before Rufus walked over. He nodded by way of greeting. "Where's the nearest helicopter?" asked Tseng.

"Kadaj and I used the one of the top of the building to get here," said Rufus.

"Rude, Reno, use that to go after those men," said Tseng. The two nodded and ran up the stairs on the side of the building. Tseng hesitated for a few moments.

"What is it?" asked Elena.

"There should be a transport garage around here somewhere. Should be two blacks that way," he said, nodding towards a side street ahead and to the right. After Meteorfall, any remaining usable vehicles and aircraft were spread around the city as a plan to help Shinra workers have better access to transportation during rebuilding efforts.

The two Turks turned back to the president, worried about what would happen to him now that he was defenseless. "Kadaj has no further interest in me. Go; I'll be here when this is over," he said firmly. "There's no time," he added, as if anticipating further arguments. He turned and walked back, fading into the shadow the building cast. For a moment, his white suit made him look like a phantom and Elena hesitated.

"Is he really going to be-?" she began.

"He can take care of himself, Elena. It's up to you and me now."

"Yeah, you're right," she said, nodding.

The two took off towards the transport garage. They ran up the stairs to the helipad on top. They jumped in and put on their headsets before taking off and following Rude and Reno. Reno was well known for his piloting skills, but it was Tseng who had taught him, and he weaved his way through unfinished structures and buildings that had sprung up over the past few years.

The two arrived just in time to see a large section of the highway completely leveled by a bazooka. Yazoo's and Loz's motorcycles went flying into the air, engulfed by a huge cloud of debris.

"Well, that's one way to do it," muttered Tseng.

"Look!" Elena cried. One of the remnants had managed to jump into the helicopter and it lurched wildly, like a bird that had just been shot.

"Not good!" Tseng exclaimed, gritting his teeth. Rude and Reno tumbled through the air just as their helicopter blew up. Elena gasped as they hit the ground. For a moment she thought they might be dead, but then she saw them sit up, rubbing their heads. Tseng began maneuvering over to the two, while Elena unbuckled and prepared to stand up.

"Elena, get the-," he began, looking down as he got closer to Rude and Reno, nearly hitting a large highway sign that had recently been erected. He jerked the cyclic to the right, and the force nearly jerked Elena from her seat. Tseng threw out his arm in front of her. She looked over at him and saw fear momentarily flash across his face. "Sorry about that," he said.

"I'm alright," she said, and jumped out of her seat as soon as Tseng had steadied the helicopter over the two. She opened the door and lowered a rope down.

"Hey, guys!" she called down, waving at them. Reno gave her a sheepish grin and Rude straightened his tie before climbing it up. Once they were up in the helicopter's rear seats, she jumped back in the co-pilot chair. Tseng didn't wait for long before taking off to follow the two men.

"Dammit, we lost our weapons back there," grumped Reno. "Now what?" The two men were now chasing after Cloud in the tunnel below them. Tseng followed the length of the tunnel.

"Director," said Rude calmly into the mic that was attached to his headset. "Drop us off at the other side of the tunnel."

Tseng glanced backwards and nodded when he saw what Rude was holding.

"Alright," Tseng replied crisply. "We'll pick you up."

"Wait, whaddaya have there?" asked Reno.

Rude smirked.

"We're here," said Tseng, lowering the copter, while Rude and Reno jumped out.

"What did Rude have, sir?" asked Elena.

"Bombs of some sort." explained Tseng. "Now let's see if they work."

They hung in the air, the two other Turks barely visible on the highway in front of the tunnel. A single motorcycle, presumably Cloud's, raced by them, and they set down the bombs and hurried off out of sight. The two enemy motorcycles rushed into view, and at that moment, there was an explosion of fiery orange that created a shockwave, destroying yet another stretch of highway as the fire expanded into a bright blue mass that ejected fireworks of green, purple, blue and just about every other color.

"Whoa," breathed Elena in disbelief, leaning forward.

"Impressive," said Tseng. "That should take care of our problem. Now, what do you say we go retrieve Rude and Reno?"

"Sounds good," she said, slumping back into her chair and closing her eyes for a moment.

"Tired?" Tseng asked with a gentle voice. She opened her eyes wider than normal, trying to make herself look as awake as possible and sat straight up.

"Um…"

"Hang in there, Elena" said Tseng, his eyes scanning the area for the other two Turks. She looked over at him, noticing that his suit was somewhat dishelved and his face was shiny with sweat, his cheeks tinged with red. They had been running quite a bit today, and the helicopters had a tendency to be warm as well, but Elena swore it just had gotten several degrees hotter as she forced herself to look away from Tseng.

"There they are." Elena spotted the two Turks climbing out from under some rubble, brushing themselves off. The helicopter dipped low enough for the two to climb on board.

"Whew, I'm beat," said Reno, plopping into his chair, spreading his legs out haphazardly.

"We still need to pick up the president," said Tseng. "Huh?" Just then, he noticed the fast darkening sky. The clouds swirled about, gathering around a central point in the distance.

"You don't think…?" wondered Elena.

"Kadaj did get his hands on Jenova's head," said Tseng quietly. His eyes widened as he stared straight ahead, his face getting very pale. "Sephiroth has returned. Elena bit her lip, remembering how badly the man at the Temple had brutalized Tseng.

"Well, Cloud and AVALANCHE are around somewhere. Hope they can take care of the wacko. Again," said Reno.

"I hope so as well," said Tseng quietly. "There's nothing more we can do now." The ride was silent but for the roar of the helicopter as they quickly flew back to the building where Rufus was waiting. Despite the ominous sky, he was sitting atop the building in his wheelchair, gazing past Edge to the ruins of his former offices. Pinpricks of light flitted around the exteriors of the buildings. Rufus turned his head when he heard the roar of the helicopter approach.

"A storm is here, it would seem," he said when his four Turks exited the helicopter. They all watched in silence, watching their old building be destroyed even further as two tiny figures flew back and forth at each other, as chunks of the building were thrown around only to be decimated a split second later, until the climax of the battle when neon blue struck the one winged menace repeatedly until he was motionless, and light burst through the clouds.

"It's over," Rufus said. The sky continued to brighten as raindrops fell from the sky.

The rain smelled like lilies. Elena gasped softly as she saw the president's geostigma washed away before her eyes, the ugly black mark receding, leaving his pale skin unmarked, as though there were never anything there to begin with. Rufus studied his hand, a small smile all that was visible under the blanket he still wore. He stood up and let the blanket slide off onto the wheelchair. The four Turks tensed, worried that he might be too weak to stay up, but Rufus was quite relaxed now. He glanced over to Elena and smiled. Taken aback, she returned the smile with a shy one of her own. Tseng looked over and his eyes narrowed for a split second.

"Shall we move out?" he asked the president. Rufus's smile faded, his face once again serious.

"Yes, let's go," he replied and walked towards the helicopter with his Turks close behind, finally able to go home after a long day.

A/N: As always, a big thanks to chibipinkbunny for being my beta and making this story the best that it can be! I don't normally write action, but at least I had the movie to fall back on for this one. Anyway, hopefully you enjoyed reading this chapter!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"_Tseng, what's this? Can we find the Promised Land with this?" asked Elena, staring at the pictures painted on the Temple's inner walls. _

"_I wonder…" said Tseng thoughtfully. "Anyway, we have to report to the president." However, Tseng didn't look like he was moving any time soon, concentrating on the images in front of him, so that left her to do the reporting. _

"_Be careful, Tseng," said Elena. The room wasn't large, but it was far colder than the rest of the temple, which was saying quite a bit. In addition to the cold, she felt as though something had its eyes on them, though she had seen the entire room empty when they had come in. She felt a chill run down her spine. _

"_Yeah…Hey, Elena. How 'bout dinner after this job's over?" he asked rather absently. _

_Her mouth dropped open, though he didn't see it. "Th-thank you very much," said Elena shakily. She felt her heart leap, but maintained a calm exterior. Even before she had been officially inducted into the ranks, she had admired Tseng. No, it was more than admiration, but because he was her superior, she had kept quiet, especially after she had revealed their mission to AVALANCHE back in the Mithril Mines, which had left Tseng quite displeased. She didn't want him to think of her as unable to do her job and unworthy of being a Turk, and therefore, unworthy of his attention. _

_But here he was, asking her to dinner as though they were equals. _

"_If I may be excused…" She left Tseng to his thoughts, later wishing she had never left him alone in that Temple. Dinner was forgotten as she pulled him, just barely alive, onto the helicopter. It was never brought up again, so Elena tried her best to forget it. For the most part, she did. _

_-x-_

It seemed like forever since Elena had been in her own bed. To be fair, two weeks was a fairly long time to be away from home. In a show of kindness that seemed to be more and more common, Rufus had allowed his Turks to come in later than usual. Of course, they were also to stay later as well.

But Elena was unable to sleep past eight in the morning and spent several minutes staring up at the ceiling. No matter what time she went to work that day, she would still have to file a report of the past two weeks' events. For now though, Elena tried to push the thought of that away and enjoy being in bed with the peaceful morning sun drifting through the shades.

She stopped to get coffee before going to the new Shinra building. It wasn't nearly as large as the original complex, but it was located in Edge, making it easier to get to. The Turks' offices were just a floor below the president's. She shared her office with Tseng, which had taken some getting used to. In their old building, she had shared an office with Rude and Reno. Reno made enough noise for two people and she had gotten used to tuning him out. Tseng was far less noisy and it was almost too quiet, leaving Elena's thoughts to drift.

Tseng was already in the office when she arrived, which didn't surprise her at all. "Good morning, Elena," he said, giving her a polite nod.

"Hello, sir," she replied. "How are you?" she went on carefully.

He didn't answer immediately. "Fine, well enough to be here," he said finally. He had taken the bandage off his forehead. She too had removed hers, though there were still traces of their torture in the form of light pink scars, a reminder that even escaping death did not mean coming out unscathed. "What about you?" he asked.

"Same, I'd say."

She turned on her computer and opened her e-mail. _108 messages?_ This was going to be a long day indeed. She began scrolling through the list and replying to, forwarding, or deleting each e-mail. Then there was the matter of the report of the recent events. She sighed, knowing that she'd have to relive the memories all over again, and putting it off seemed like a good idea, so she got up and walked next door to Rude and Reno's office.

"Hey, Elena! What's up?" asked Reno, not bothering to take his feet off his desk.

"I need your reports about the remnant incident so I can give it to Rufus all together," she said.

"Wait, right now?" interrupted Reno.

"No, not if it's not done. Just before tonight," she said.

"Why, got a hot date?" he asked, grinning.

She looked away, her face tinged pink. "I just want to get it done, alright?"

"Fine, fine," said Reno, waving his hand. "I'm almost done, just so you know."

"What, really?" asked Elena, blinking. She walked over to his desk and stared at the screen. On it was an empty page, the cursor blinking. "Liar."

"Geez, is Rufus gonna read any of this anyway?" asked Reno. "We kicked their asses. What more needs to be said?"

_Well, not before we got ours royally beaten,_ thought Elena. It was easy enough for Reno to just brush off the incident, but he hadn't been shot, stabbed, and left for dead down in the cold crater. Her eyes widened and she started breathing faster when the image of Tseng having Kadaj's Souba jammed into his stomach and shoulder came unbidden to her.

"Hey, you okay?" asked Reno.

"Just please write something," she said exasperatedly.

At the very least, things were back to normal around the office. But now Elena was sitting in front of the blank screen. She hesitated when typing the first page, thinking back to the torture that had been inflicted upon her and Tseng. Her typing become sporadic when she wrote about taking care of Tseng's wounds. She wondered how bad the scars were, especially when he already had so many already.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Reno.

"Was that _really_ necessary?" she asked, her heart beating a mile a minute.

"Yes," he said. "You were staring."

"I wasn't. I was concentrating," she said, hoping that he wouldn't try to push the topic further. She noticed the piece of paper he had set down. "Oh, you got your report done. Thanks, you can go, bye."

"Why the rush to get me out?" he asked. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at Tseng. He looked back at her, smiling mischievously. He leaned back against the wall, shoving his hands in his pockets. She glared at him, but his smile just got bigger.

"Elena?" came Tseng's voice.

"Yes sir?" she replied louder than necessary. Tseng turned around, walked to her desk, and gave her a folder with the label _Sephiroth Remnant Incident_ written on it in his immaculate penmanship. The handwriting could belong to no one but him; his words slanted a bit to the right, and he always connected his S's to whatever letter that followed.

"Once you're done with your report, put it in that folder and take it to Rufus," he said, returning to his desk.

"Right," she said, hoping her face wasn't red.

"I'll leave you guys alone, then," he said, giving Elena a rather obvious wink that Tseng did not fail to see. "I'm goin' home. Later, boss." He gave a lazy wave as he walked out.

"What was that about?" asked Tseng.

"Uh…probably just Reno being his usual self. You know…?" she said. He didn't seem convinced, and she gave him a nervous smile, dropping it immediately when he turned back to his computer screen.

Elena finally managed to finish her report and put it in the folder with the others and headed up to Rufus's office. It was night by then, and the only light was from the ancient yellowed fixtures placed at regular but distant intervals throughout the hallway. She knocked on his office door, which was unmarked. "It's Elena."

"Come in," he said, sounding as though he had been waiting for her to arrive. Elena opened the door and closed it behind her. Rufus turned away from his computer as she approached the desk. The bright overhead lights made the dark circles under his eyes more apparent. Though his geostigma was gone, it appeared he still wasn't sleeping well. But she knew he would not admit this, being the stubborn man he was. And given the state of his suit, it didn't look as though he'd been home recently.

"I have the report of the incident involving the remnants here," she said, handing him the folder.

"Thank you, Elena," he said, opening the folder. Elena turned to walk out, but hesitated. She turned back to face him, a look of concern on her face.

"Sir, with all due respect…perhaps you should get some sleep," she said.

"Elena, if I could sleep I would. But as you can see," he said, motioning to the piles of paper on his desk. "There's work to be done." His voice was patient and smooth, as though willing her to respond to his words.

"Well, taking a break wouldn't be so bad, would it?" she asked, surprised at how easily the words were coming out. "Taking some time for yourself…you know," she trailed off. He looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds before standing up and putting papers in a neat pile.

"Perhaps not," he said. "Though I spend enough time alone as it is."

_That's true…_ thought Elena. Rufus walked over next to her.

"So perhaps you'd like to join me for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Huh?"

Rufus smiled at her the same way he had done yesterday on top of the building. "I mean, I heard you, but you're not just-?"

"I'd like to have dinner with you, Elena," said Rufus, his voice sincere. Elena just stared and blinked.

"Since you seem to be speechless, give me an answer tomorrow." He walked passed her, and shut the lights off. She took the hint and hustled out of his office, allowing him to lock the door behind him. "I'll be waiting." He left her standing, still unable to speak, though she had gathered her thoughts and walked back down to her own office.

"That took a while," said Tseng, raising his eyebrows.

"Sorry," said Elena automatically.

"It's fine…I'm about to head out for the night," he said, his voice suspicious.

"Yeah…" she said distractedly. She picked up her purse and made her way to the door. The strap caught on the door handle, and jerked her back.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she answered too quickly, trying to avoid his eyes as she untangled herself. "Uhh…good night."

"Good night, Elena," he said, still sounding uncertain of her reply.

-x-

The following day the sky was clear and bright, the kind where she couldn't help but be in a good mood, though Rufus's question still tugged at the back of her mind.

"Good morn-!" she began. Rufus was in the office, talking to Tseng, who was sitting in his chair, arms crossed and glaring at Rufus, who didn't seem to mind at all. "-ing," she finished lamely.

"Ah, hello Elena," Rufus said smoothly. "I've got an assignment for you two. I've decided that Shinra would benefit from some good publicity," he continued. "I've started a public service campaign." He gestured to a sheet in front of Tseng. "I've given Tseng your assignment for the day. You'll start this afternoon." He gave her a smirk that told her that no, he hadn't forgotten last night's question and that yes, he still expected an answer. He walked by her on the way out, close enough that she got a good whiff of his cologne.

"Soooo….what are we doing?" she asked, shaking herself mentally.

"The president is expecting us to go to a day care and assist them for the afternoon," he said tightly.

Elena bit back a laugh. The thought of Tseng playing with children was not one she had ever had before. "Oh, it can't be that bad," she said, unable to hold back a smile. He gave her a withering look.

"Elena," he began slowly. "Do I look like the type to take care of children?"

"There's a first for everything, sir," she said. "When do we leave?"

"In an hour."

"Well, I think it'd be best if I went and changed," she said.

"Right…" said Tseng, rubbing the bridge of his nose. She returned to the Shinra building dressed in jeans and a dark shirt that would hide any stains she was bound to get. As she made her way up to the office, she wondered if Tseng would have changed as well, as she had only seen him out of a suit once at Icicle Inn, and the clothes were not even his. She raised her eyebrows skeptically when she saw that he had merely taken off his jacket.

"Sir, that shirt is going to get wrecked," she said.

"I didn't have enough time to change." He sighed. "Let's go and get this over with." The daycare was not far from the office, so they walked. They didn't speak much on the way, giving Elena more time than she wished to think about Rufus's dinner invitation.

_I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like I haven't been asked out before. It's just dinner. But why is there even any doubt…?_

It was then that an old memory from two years ago hit Elena. _Tseng asked me to dinner. We never went. So much happened between then and now. _Tseng's voice jerked her back to the present.

"Elena…have you ever taken care of children before?" asked Tseng hesitantly as they neared the building.

"I babysat on occasion," she replied. "But that's about it."

"I see."

"Don't worry; we just have to do this for a couple hours. Besides, I'm sure there's someone there who will help us," she said reassuringly. "I guess we'll just have to try and have fun." She smiled uncertainly at him.

"I don't have 'fun,'" he said uncomfortably.

"I know," said Elena. _All too well._

The daycare center was built from the same bland concrete that most other buildings were made from, but it stood out, thanks to its bright blue sign that read _Happy Time Daycare_.

"Well, here we are," said Elena, pushing open the door. They were immediately blasted with the smell of animal crackers, apple juice and antibacterial spray. The children were busy playing on the floor, pushing around trucks, coloring at plastic tables, or playing with dolls in the corner. One girl, who looked to be a little older than the rest, was in a corner by herself, reading a book. A heavyset woman in her early fifties greeted them.

"Well, HELLO, you must be TSENG and ELENA," she said, as if they were children. "I'm ALICIA, but the kids here call me MISS Alicia."

"It's nice to be here," said Tseng. Elena could hear the insincerity dripping from his voice, but Alicia ignored it.

"I'm happy to FINALLY have some HELP around here. Stacey! The two helpers are here!" she shouted over to a younger dark haired woman. Thankfully, Stacey did not have the same enunciation issues that Alicia had.

"Hey, I'm Stacey," she said. "And you are?" She looked at Tseng somewhat doubtfully, raising her eyebrows as she looked over his clothes.

"Tseng."

"Elena."

"Pleased to meet you. We're going to take the older ones out and work on our garden in a few minutes."

"What are you growing?" asked Elena.

"We thought we'd try growing tomatoes and sunflowers," explained Stacey before turning to the children. "Alright, kids!" The kids looked up expectantly, although the girl in the corner did not. "We have some new people today! This is Tseng and Elena."

"He looks like a girl," one of the boys blurted out. Tseng cleared his throat.

"Now you know that's not polite," said Stacey reprovingly. "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say it at all."

"His hair's long. Only GIRLS have long hair," the boy insisted. Elena let out a giggle and quickly covered her mouth.

"Charles…" said Stacey warningly. "Please be nice to Mrs. Tseng." She quickly corrected herself, but the boys were already howling with laughter. "Alright, kids, settle down. You know what I meant." Elena stole a glance at Tseng; he was rubbing the bridge of his nose, his eyebrows furrowed. Already his patience was being tested. She turned back to the two and sighed. "I apologize," she said.

"Don't mention it," said Tseng. "Please."

"Charles is a bit of a handful," she went on quietly. "But they're all good kids. So why don't you just sit down and play around for a bit, get to know them?"

"Alright!" said Elena brightly. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Charles whispering in another boy's ear. They both started giggling. Elena decided to go over to the girl over in the corner.

"Hello, what's your name?" she asked the girl. The girl looked up at her and Elena noticed that she looked like she was from Wutai. The girl answered her in a demure voice.

"…It's Lisa."

"What book are you reading?" Elena asked her. Lisa closed the book so Elena could see the cover.

"Oh, that was one of my favorites when I was a kid!" said Elena with great enthusiasm. _And wow, that was a long time ago._ She suddenly felt very old.

"Could you read it to me?" asked the girl shyly, holding the book out to Elena.

"Oh…okay," said Elena. She began to read the book, uncertainly at first, but her enthusiasm increased as she went on, until she heard Stacey's weary voice.

"No, we don't put play-doh in Mr. Tseng's hair." Charles and his co-conspirator had put globs of green play-doh on Tseng's head, while he sat on the floor, looking distinctly out of place.

"But he's the monster!" protested Charles and he picked up a foam sword and began whacking Tseng with it. Tseng turned and gave Elena a withering look.

"Girl monster! Girl monster!" Charles taunted, while the other boys joined in. The foam swords continued to swat at him. Tseng sat, his expression clearly reading _I give up._

"This monster isn't very scary," said another boy, yawning. Elena thought that it was a good thing that they did not see Tseng when he was scary.

"Ahh….alright, time to go out to the garden!" said Stacey. She got up and followed several of the kids out. There was a small plot of dirt behind several pieces of playground equipment.

"Okay, let's start by digging some holes for the seeds," directed Stacey. "Here, hand out these trowels," she instructed, and handed them each a handful of the small shovels. The girls dug holes without complaint, but the boys proved more difficult. Instead of digging holes, the boys chucked dirt at each other.

"I found a worm!" shouted one of them.

"Me too!" shouted another.

"Worms are good," Stacey started to explain. "They help the dirt-," She was interrupted by squeals from the girls.

"Ewww…get away!" squeaked one girl as the boy pushed the worm in her face.

"Alright, that's enough," said Stacey, walking over to the boys who were harassing the girls. But Tseng was quicker and he plucked the worms out of the boys' fingers before they realized what had happened.

"Hey, gimmee that back!"

"No fair!"

"Dig. Now," said Tseng, pointing to the abandoned trowels.

"Says who?" said Charles, crossing his arms over his chest and jutting his chin out.

"I do," said Tseng. He narrowed his eyes. It was the same look he gave Reno when he complained about something. However, it rarely proved effective on someone so jaded. But it worked surprisingly well on the young boys.

Tseng bent down next to them and began digging himself. The boys still flung around a bit of dirt, but soon there were several rows of holes.

"Alright, come get the seeds!" called Stacey, and both the boys and girls scrambled over to her.

There was a thump followed by an "Owwiee…!" Elena looked back and found that one of the boys had tripped and scraped his knee. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Here, Sam…let me-," began Stacey, but Tseng walked over and knelt down to inspect the wound.

"No, I've got it," said Tseng. "Let's go," he told Sam gently. The boy Sam stood up shakily and reached up and took Tseng's hand. From the look on his face, Tseng did not expect it, but closed his own hand around Sam's and they walked into the day care together.

"'Lena!" called Lisa.

"Huh?" asked Elena, shaken out of her reverie. She felt her cheeks burning as she watched Tseng.

"Is this how many we put in?" she asked, pointing down. One hole was filled with nearly the whole packet of seeds.

"Oh…no, that's too many," she said absently. "Take some of those out and put them in these holes here."

"Okay!"

The rest of the planting went smoothly and Tseng and Sam returned outside to water the plants. Sam was now smiling brightly as he dumped the contents of his watering can onto the small piles of dirt. Elena stood up and walked over to Tseng, brushing her hands off. It was nearing evening now, and parents were beginning to arrive to pick up their children. The two Turks walked back into the day care, followed by Stacey.

"Thanks for all your help today," said Stacey.

"We had fun," said Elena. They headed back to the office, the voices of children and parents fading as they walked further away.

"Think the president is going to expect a report from us?" asked Elena.

"I'm sure he will," said Tseng unenthusiastically.

"By the way, what did Reno and Rude have to do today?" asked Elena suddenly.

"Some volunteers were digging up some valuable scrap in a monster infested section of Sector 5. They were on patrol there," said Tseng, his words clipped.

"Hey, at least we didn't have to risk our lives today," said Elena brightly.

"I'm used to that by now," he replied dryly. "Not dealing with children."

"You were pretty good with Sam back there," she said. He didn't answer right away.

"Perhaps…" he said finally. He seemed deep in thought and Elena felt like she would be intruding on his thoughts if she spoke up again, so they walked the rest of the way in silence. They had reached the office; Rude and Reno were already back.

"Heya, boss," said Reno with a lazy wave. "How'd it go?"

"It went," was Tseng's simple reply.

"Oh, Elena, the president wanted to see you," he added, waggling his eyebrows at her. "As soon as you got back."

Suddenly the president's question came back into her mind, crashing into her like a chocobo that had just crossed the finish line in the big race. "Oh, right…" she said. She didn't remember her feet getting her to the president's door and knocking.

"It's open," came Rufus's voice. When Elena walked in, she realized just how messy she looked. There was dirt all over her clothes and her hair was still sticky with sweat.

"I'm sorry for my appearance," she said.

"No need to apologize, Elena," replied Rufus. "So, do you have the answer to my question?"

_Way to cut straight to the chase…_ "Um…well…"

He stepped out from behind his desk and leaned against the front of it, tilting his head to the side. "Is that a no?" he asked.

"No!" exclaimed Elena. "It's just…"

"It's just dinner, Elena. Nothing more, nothing less," he said, looking at her seriously, his voice a pitch lower than usual. She realized that her heart was pounding like crazy.

"I'd like to hear how your mission went," said Rufus. He smirked again; during Shinra's peak, that smirk had caused many a young lady to swoon. Elena bit her lip.

"I understand," he said lightly. "If you'd rather not-"

"No. I want to go," said Elena quickly.

"How does tomorrow at seven sound?"

"Yeah…"

"Excellent, I'll see you then. You may go," said Rufus, pushing himself off the desk. Elena left the office and returned to her own, intending to retrieve her purse and then go.

"Good night, sir," she said, though it didn't feel like she was the one speaking the words.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Elena," said Tseng.

But when she had slipped the purse strap over her shoulder and exiting the office, she found herself unable to move as she leaned against the wall outside the door. Suddenly everything in the office, from the clicking of Tseng's keyboard to Reno's chattering, seemed further away. She finally pushed herself away from the wall, her thoughts going over the conversation that she and Rufus had earlier, her heart thumping harder. _Dinner._ _Nothing more, nothing less._

A/N – Apologies for taking so long to finish this chapter! It's longer than I usually write, so hopefully that made up for it a little bit. Rest assured that I'm already working on the next one. As always, thank you to the wonderful **chibipinkbunny **for going over this before I just go winging it to the winds.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The night was cool as Elena walked back to her apartment. Her apartment was close to a tiny café, which was a favorite spot for couples. At the moment the patio was occupied by several young couples her age. _I wonder where we'll go?_ The astonishment she had felt at the office had dissipated into curiosity after she had given herself a pep talk, assuring herself she had done nothing wrong. She half wondered if restaurants would deny them entry, given Rufus's dark past.

Upon reaching her apartment, she took in the mail and tossed it on the kitchen counter. It was warm inside her apartment, given the lack of air conditioning. She quickly undressed and stepped into the bathroom, turning on the shower. She welcomed the cool water as it washed away the dirt and sweat. She threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top after drying off, then flopped on her bed and turned on the TV, not really paying attention to the news, instead looking over at her closet.

It was open, several shirts and blazers hanging neatly on hangers. There were a few nice shirts and slacks lying on the shelves, but nothing that would be appropriate for a night out with Rufus. As they were having dinner tomorrow night, she had almost no time to find something suitable.

_I guess I should just go shopping after work. _It had been a long time since she had done such a normal activity like dress shopping, and she hoped that whatever she might find wouldn't make Rufus regret his dinner invitation.

-X-

The hours passed slowly as Elena sat at her desk, clicking through e-mails and emptying her inbox, occasionally playing Solitaire. When the clock on her computer hit 4:59 P.M., Elena was already up, her computer off for the weekend.

"Someone's in a hurry," commented Tseng from behind her.

"I've got something to do and only two hours to do it," she said, nodding for emphasis. _Even less, now that I think about it. _"I've gotta go now." She didn't really want to explain why she was leaving. _ I mean, it's not his business, is it?_ But she felt a little guilty just walking out without saying a proper good bye. She hurried back into the office.

"Good bye, Tseng, I'll see you next week," she said, the words spilling into each other.

Tseng raised his eyebrows. "Indeed. Good luck with whatever you're doing," he said.

"Thanks," she said quietly and jogged out of the office, going to one of the dress shops that had sprung up in Edge, though most of the clothes had been imported from other towns. Since necessities like grocery stores and doctors' offices had been established, luxury goods shops had opened up.

The small dress shop she walked into was a mishmash of different styles, with dresses crowded onto the floor racks and hanging on the walls and soft rock music playing in the background. There seemed to be no organization to the layout of the store and already she felt overwhelmed, not knowing where to start.

"Hello, can I help you find anything?" asked a plump woman wearing large gold earrings who looked to be in her mid-thirties.

"Well, yes, actually," said Elena, sounding somewhat embarrassed. "See…I'm meeting someone for dinner in less than two hours, and well, I need something nice but not like business nice but not like…" She trailed off.

"Ah," said the woman knowingly. "You came to the right place. We'll get you all set up!" She laughed. Elena gave her a weak smile. The woman led her around the store, occasionally saying that a dress would look good with her eyes or hair. Elena ended up with a large pile of dresses in her arms.

"I think I have enough to start with," she said, looking above the pile at the woman, who was contemplating another dress, no doubt wanting to add it to her already oversized load. "Could I try these on?"

"Oh, of course," the woman said, directing her to a fitting room in the back. Elena tried on one dress after another, finding that most were ill fitting or just downright ugly. She was getting annoyed and rather worried as well, given that the woman had practically piled the whole store into her arms. She tried on another dress, not expecting it to fit right, but she paused as she looked in the mirror. It was a black, close fitting keyhole dress with a mandarin collar, going down to just above her knees. The sleeves reached just past her elbows. She continued to stare at herself in disbelief.

_I look…nice. _

"Find anything you like?" asked the woman when Elena emerged from the fitting room.

"Yes." She thrust her chosen dress over the counter.

"Excellent choice. I just received this one from Mideel a few days ago," the woman explained as she rang up the dress. "Good luck with your date tonight!" She winked at Elena.

"Uh…thanks very much!" said Elena, turning around before the woman could see her blush. _Date? Since when was this a date? It's just dinner…_ She hurried back to her apartment, making it back by 6:15. She quickly showered and padded into the bedroom to put on her dress. She admired herself in the full length mirror on the back of the door when she was suddenly hit with a horrifying thought.

_Shoes._ She rummaged through her closet, finding only scuffed up shoes and boots before she came across a dusty shoebox shoved in the back. She opened it. _Jackpot._ Black high heels. She put them on and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't fall flat on her face after walking out of the bedroom into the living room and kitchen area.

The clock read 6:55, and Elena sat down at the counter, staring at the clock over the stove.

7:05. _Where is he?_ Elena wondered. She got off the stool and walked to the door and looked through the peephole. No one. _Is he not coming? _ Every few seconds she would check again, pacing in front of the door, until…

There he was. She paused before opening the door after the doorbell rang, not wanting to come across as desperate.

"Hello," she said, giving him a nervous smile.

"Hello, Elena," said Rufus. She looked him over. His suit was noticeably free of the wrinkles she had noticed before. The top two buttons of his shirt were left undone, revealing a sliver of his bare chest. It surprised Elena, given the fact that he had only worn his suit this way when he had geostigma. It had been far more comfortable for him, what with all the bandages that he had been wearing.

"You look stunning," said Rufus.

"Uh…thank you," said Elena, unable to meet his eyes, her heart racing at the compliment.

"I apologize for my lateness," said Rufus. "There were some things that I had to finish that couldn't wait."

"It's okay!" said Elena brightly. There was a rumbling, and both Elena and Rufus looked down at her stomach. "I guess I'm hungry," she mumbled.

"I know an excellent place to fix that," he said. "It's not far from here." They walked to the parking lot where Rufus's silver car was waiting and got in.

"Where are we going?" asked Elena.

"You'll see," said Rufus. "I think you'll enjoy it." She busied herself by looking out the windows and studying the nightlife as it went zooming by the window. This section of Edge had theaters and several restaurants. Very rarely were they high priced, due to the fact that most owners wanted to attract as many people as possible. They couldn't afford to do otherwise in a city that still had yet to completely rebuild. However, they also focused on making the décor as luxurious as possible, so that people who wanted to have a night on the town could do it in style.

Rufus seemed content to look out his window as well, the ghost of a smirk on his face. "We're here," came the driver's voice. Elena pushed her own door open, because it was _just dinner_ and she didn't need to wait for Rufus to come around and open the door like it was a _date._ Rufus talked briefly with the driver before walking to her side, holding out his hand for her to take.

They went inside, where the ceiling was higher than most of the other buildings. Small chandeliers hung from the ceiling, their lights dimmed, creating an intimate atmosphere. The burgundy walls were hung with pictures of the grassy lands outside of Edge, all in gilded frames. White linen covered the tables, each with a candle in the middle. Polite conversation floated through the room, with a laugh thrown in every so often.

A maître'd stood behind a dark wooden podium, a leather book in front of him. He looked up when he saw the two approach. His eyes widened for a moment when he saw the infamous Rufus Shinra standing before him, but he looked down at the book, not requiring Rufus to say his name.

"This way," he said, holding two thick menus and leading them to a table in the middle of the restaurant. They were seated, menus placed in front of them. Elena could feel the other diners' eyes on her; she wasn't surprised given that she was with Rufus. He, however, handled the whole thing with grace, merely folding his hands on the table.

"You know what you're getting?" asked Elena.

"Of course."

Elena looked down at the menu and decided to go with her own standby, and shut the menu. The waiter came by and asked them for their order. Rufus got filet mignon while she ordered the chicken caesar salad. Rufus ordered a bottle of wine, and the waiter poured each of them a glass.

"So…" began Elena, unsure of what else to say and taking a sip of her wine to fill up the silence. "How did your day go?"

"Same as always. Busy, but nothing I can't handle." Elena nodded.

"How did your mission go?" asked Rufus.

"Hmm…great, actually. Probably better for me than Tseng, though," she said, grinning.

"Oh?"

"The boys were on him about how only girls had long hair. One of the girls who worked there even called him Mrs. Tseng by mistake," she said, chuckling at the memory. "One of the boys dumped play-doh on his head and called him a 'girl monster.'" She paused. "Uh…don't tell Tseng I told you that."

"Of course not," he replied smoothly, smiling.

"He was very patient though. I mean, they were hitting him with swords made out of foam! But he just sat there and let them do what they wanted until we went out to plant their garden. They're growing tomatoes and sunflowers."

"It sounds nice," he said, a hint of melancholy in his voice, but Elena plowed on.

"Oh, but the best part is when some of the boys were bothering the girls with worms and he just took them away before they even knew what happened!" She grinned at the memory. "Then he told them to start digging and gave them this _look._" She tried to imitate it and Rufus raised his eyebrows, amused. "Well, he can do it better. But anyway, the daycare girl handed out seeds and we planted them. But one of the boys got hurt and Tseng took care of him." She noticed that Rufus was studying her carefully. Several other people were now also looking at her curiously, and she realized that she had been speaking somewhat loudly. She slouched, trying to make herself look smaller.

"Let them stare, Elena. How often do they get to see me with such a lovely young woman?"

"Well, uh…" she stuttered, playing with the napkin in her lap.

"I'm sure they wish they could share in such interesting company. However, that pleasure belongs to me." Her head shot up at the last remark, her face turning pink. She was grateful to be distracted by the salad that the waiter had dropped off in front of her.

Rufus took his knife and fork and began cutting his food in the refined manner he had been taught. The knife went through the meat like butter, as expected of a filet mignon. Finally she pulled herself back to the present and picked up her own utensils. She noticed that the leaves in her salad were particularly large, and the knife slipped over the pieces as she sawed at it, her stomach reminding her with a growl that it didn't care if the pieces were small.

She gave up trying to cut the lettuce and jammed her fork into a few pieces of lettuce, then poked two pieces of chicken on the end of the fork. She put the morsel into her mouth only to realize that she couldn't quite shut her mouth all the way. She hastily moved the food around in her mouth with her tongue in an attempt to make it fit, and managed to slowly chew and then swallow.

Rufus raised his eyebrows, and she gulped down her lettuce. She gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry..."

"No need to apologize, Elena," said Rufus.

"I don't want to embarrass you, though," said Elena quietly, looking down at her food.

"If I was embarrassed, I wouldn't be here right now. I find it…refreshing."

"What?" Elena was taken aback and looked up. Rufus's expression was thoughtful.

"After having so many dinners with people who are obsessed with looking and acting perfect in front of me, it's nice to be around someone who breaks that mold."

"Oh…" said Elena. "Well, I still don't want people to think I'm a slob, you know?" After that, she was more careful with her food and did her best to impress upon Rufus, along with the other diners, that she had more class than a chocobo eating out of a trough. "How's your steak?"

"Delicious. And your salad?"

"Pretty good, actually," she said as she slid a carefully folded piece of lettuce into her mouth. Now that she had sated her hunger, she could focus on enjoying what was left of the salad.

The bill arrived after the two had finished their meals, and Elena reached for it, but Rufus snatched it away before she could look at it.

"I can get my salad," she said nervously. "I don't mind."

"I do. What kind of man would I be if I let you pay?" he asked.

"You're sure?" she asked.

"Positive," he said, with a charming smile. Elena could see how he had captured the attention of so many people.

"Well, thank you," she said, giving him a shy smile. Rufus paid for the meal, and they walked out of the restaurant. The sidewalk was crowded, with people waiting for one of the available taxis or in a line to get into one of the theaters. Their car pulled up within minutes and he pulled open her door. _So he paid for my dinner and he opened my door for me…oh Gaia, it IS a date…_ thought Elena with both nervousness and excitement. And to her surprise, she found that she quite enjoyed it. Rufus took his seat in the car and took off. Rufus checked to make sure that the window separating them from the chauffer was closed before turning to her.

"I take it you enjoyed dinner?" asked Rufus.

"Yes, it was wonderful," said Elena with a smile. The bright lights disappeared as they drove out of the theater and restaurant district and entered the residential area. Several of the lights in the window were still on in many of the buildings, as it was only around nine.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her knee. "We're here, Elena," came Rufus's voice. She remained still as his hand lingered where it was. She hesitantly put her own hand over his.

"I guess we are," she said, not willing to move, afraid to let the moment go away. He finally moved his hand. "Thank you for dinner. I had a good time," she said.

"You're very welcome," he replied.

Elena got out of the car and walked slowly back to her apartment. She heard the car leave the parking lot as she stood in front of her door, only to realize that she had left her purse in the car.

_Great. My phone was in there too. _There was no rug or plant to hide a spare key so she simply stood outside, looking at the locked door with her shoulders slumped. She could only hope that Rufus would notice sooner than later.

To her relief, she heard Rufus's car returning to the parking lot. She turned around to see Rufus getting out, her small black clutch in his hand. He held it out to her and she took it.

"Thanks," she said gratefully. "I can't believe I left this in there." She turned around and began to dig around for the keys out of her clutch. She felt Rufus's hands on her waist and she turned around, her back against the door.

"Rufus-," she began. But she was cut off when his lips met hers. She put her free hand on his arm, but the kiss was over before she had time to react further. Rufus's hands remained on her waist.

"Good night, Elena," he said, his voice deep and husky. He let his hands slip from her sides, then returned to his car without a backwards glance. She could still feel his presence, the ghost of his hands on her waist. She realized she was shaking and her heart was thumping rapidly. Eventually, her shaking hands found the keys, and she shoved it in the lock harder than necessary to open the door.

She walked to her bedroom and flopped on the bed without taking off her shoes. She touched her lips, remembering the feel of his kiss. The memory of it made her stomach flipflop. Even though the kiss had been brief, Rufus's lips had been firm and possessive.

As a Turk, she knew that body language could say more than just words alone, and Rufus's kiss had stolen her breath away. _How in the world did he learn to kiss like that?_ It exhilarated and scared her at the same time. She groped around on the bed for her clutch and pulled out her phone.

She checked to see if anyone had left any messages and found that no one had. She set the phone down and realized that if she was just a normal young woman returning from a date, she probably would have called up her closest girlfriend to gush about the details. As she scrolled through her contact list, she found the numbers of a handful of Shinra employees as well as the numbers of Rude, Reno, Rufus and Tseng. She paused at Tseng's name. Her fingers rolled absently along the buttons. Suddenly the screen showed a picture of a phone with the words "Calling...Tseng" below it.

_Oh shoot!_ Elena realized that she must have pressed the "call" button by mistake, and now that she heard the ringtone she knew that even if she hung up now, her name would show up on his caller ID. But she canceled the call anyway, knowing that Tseng would no doubt call her back.

Sure enough, her phone rang a few minutes later. She picked it up and spoke before Tseng could get a word in.

"Sorry sir, I called you by mistake," she said quickly.

"I see," said Tseng evenly.

"I'll see you on Monday, then," she said.

"Elena?"

"Hmm?" she asked warily.

"When you left today, you said you needed to get something done," he began.

"Oh...right..."

"Did you get it done?"

"Yeah."

"That's good," he said, his voice somber.

"Mmm-hmm." For a moment, neither spoke.

"Elena, I…" Tseng's voice abruptly broke the silence.

"Hmm?"

"It's nothing."

"Well...I guess I'll talk to you at the office," she said finally.

"Good night, Elena." She heard him hang up and kept her phone open, looking at the blinking "call ended" on the screen for a second before finally shutting the phone and setting it on her bedside table.

-X-

On Monday morning, Tseng was in the office before Elena, as usual. "Rufus wants to see us in his office," he said coldy, without any greeting.

"Right now?"

"He said as soon as you got here."

"Oh, okay." The two walked up to Rufus's office and Tseng knocked on the door.

"You wanted to see Elena and me, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, come in," said Rufus. Tseng and Elena stood in front of Rufus's desk. Rufus met her eyes for a very brief moment and his lips quirked up in a smile, but his expression was serious as he began to speak. "Next week, Wutai is holding a summit about the energy crisis. Most of the major cities will be in attendance. I'll be going as well," he said. "I need you two to come with me to serve as my bodyguards."

"Yes, sir," said the two in unison.

"We'll be leaving this Friday at eight A.M. That will be all," he said. Tseng nodded and turned to leave. Elena gave Rufus a shy smile before nodding and walking towards the door. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her move, even after she shut the door behind her.

* * *

A/N – Thanks to **chibipinkbunny** for betaing. I have most of chapter 6 and 7 written but I still need to go over them so I can send them off. As for this chapter, I sincerely hope it wasn't too cheesy.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Note - As of the evening of 7/26/10, there have been some minor additions and changes to this chapter.

The sky cleared as they made their way to Wutai. Especially after spending so much time in the gray of Edge, it never failed to amaze her to see the lush green plains. Unfortunately, they had gone from rain in Edge to extreme humidity in Wutai. They touched down, and while Elena was thankful to be off the helicopter, she was hit by a burning wave of heat that was made all the more painful by her dark suit. A Wutai official was waiting for them so he could take the three to their accommodations, sweat shining on his forehead.

"Mr. Shinra, this way if you please," said the official. The official's eyes narrowed when he saw Tseng, who didn't react. Rufus however, cleared his throat and the official turned to lead them to their hotel.

They were to stay in Wutai's most luxurious inn, housed with several other delegates from other cities. The roof was bright red, with bamboo siding. It had been built after Wutai had become a tourist destination. As much Wutai disliked being treated as a tourist destination, they needed the money and Godo Kisaragi was not about to let his people starve.

The lobby was decorated with paper lanterns and jade figures. The woman at the desk, though, was dressed in a traditional business suit. Elena breathed a sigh of relief when she entered the air conditioned area. "Your rooms are already prepared," said the official, motioning them to follow him up the stairs. The official handed Rufus a folder and distributed the keys them.

"Dinner will be at six," Rufus said, looking up from his folder. "I'll see you then." He nodded at Elena and Tseng and turned to unlock his door. She turned to open her own door. The tatami mats were bathed in sunlight, making the room very inviting. Several painted scrolls hung on the wall, including one of Leviathan. She set down her bag and lay down on the bed, feeling drowsy. She closed her eyes, and it seemed like only seconds had passed when she woke up again. Glancing over at the clock, she saw that a full hour and a half had passed while she was sleeping. Upon realizing it was nearly time for dinner, her residual grogginess disappeared.

She jumped off the bed and opened her bag, pulling out her hairbrush. After running it through her hair, she straightened her suit out and pocketed her key. Both Tseng and Rufus were already walking down the hallway, and she hurried to catch up to them. When they reached the stairs, Rufus slid a hand to the small of her back and allowed her to go down the stairs first. Tseng cleared his throat and frowned. Rufus raised his eyebrows questioningly, but Tseng avoided eye contact with Rufus until they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

The banquet had already started, and Elena felt the eyes of every other delegate home in on Rufus. Regardless of how much they disliked him, they needed him if they wanted to have a secure backing for the new energy source, whatever it might be. The purpose of the summit was to open a dialogue rather than to make any hard decisions. However, everyone involved realized the need to make a good impression. After the summit, there was a great deal of money at stake.

The other delegates didn't know Elena's or Tseng's name, but they knew the suit they wore and what it meant. Any attempt to attack the president would be met with a swift end. They stayed close behind him while he talked with some of the other delegates, munching on dumplings and rice. They kept themselves busy by picking out the other delegates' bodyguards.

"Right there," said Elena, motioning subtly to the woman hanging onto a well-dressed man's arm. She wore an expensive looking dress with a long slit up the side.

"How can you tell?"

"She has a gun strapped to her leg," she said matter-of-factly.

"She does?" asked Tseng. The woman moved again, the slit in her dress giving a quick glimpse of the black holster on her thigh. "She does." Elena snuck a glance up at Tseng, who had red growing on his face.

"Are you blushing?" she asked, a mischievous grin on her face.

"No, the food is spicy," he said, avoiding her eyes.

"Liar…come on, Scarlet wore way worse than that and you didn't get all hot and bothered over her," said Elena teasingly. Tseng nearly choked on what he was eating.

"Everything alright over here?" came Rufus's voice. "Did I hear something about Scarlet?" he asked, his face full of disdain at the mention his former weapons development head.

"No sir," said Tseng.

"Let's keep it that way," he said. "In any case, are you enjoying the banquet?"

"The food's pretty good," she replied. Rufus snagged three champagnes from a server's tray and handed them to his bodyguards. "What shall we toast to?" he asked Elena.

"Uh...success?" she offered, caught off guard.

"Nothing wrong with that. To success." Rufus raised his glass, Tseng and Elena following suit. Rufus's eyes stayed on Elena's as he took a sip, sending a shiver through her. She looked away and drank the rest of her champagne in one gulp.

After the banquet, the three returned to their rooms. Elena decided to take a shower. After she got out of the bathroom, she put on the yukata that the inn provided. She looked out the window and took in the scenery. The Inn grounds were rather large, and she spotted a garden with a koi pond further off, and she decided to take a walk. Tseng had told her that he would be with Rufus and that she could relax for a while.

She walked down to the lobby and strolled out to the garden, sitting down at the little bench next to the water. The weather wasn't quite so hot and was more comfortable now. The garden overlooked the city. Lights dotted the buildings and streets below, giving the area a warm yellow glow. Crowds of people still made their way through the marketplace, buying food and trinkets from the stalls. She could hear the faint buzzing of insects along with the bubbling of the water. She got off the bench and knelt down next to the koi pond. She smiled as the koi swam close to the edge of the pond, looking up at her expectantly for food. She stood back up.

"Elena?" Tseng's clear voice cut through the evening noise.

Elena gasped, taking a step back only to find that there was no ground. She toppled into the water. The pond was deeper than she expected, and she flailed around before managing to pull herself up and drag herself out of the water, the yukata dripping wet and heavy. Tseng merely stared at her. She followed his gaze and looked down at her chest. The cloth had soaked through. Her face burned and she crossed her arms. She walked past him.

"Elena, wait," said Tseng. She stopped, but didn't turn around. _Why would he sneak up on me like that? And then have the gall to stare at me… _she thought angrily. The once pleasant night air was cold against her skin.

"What?" she asked, her voice clipped.

"Here, take this," he said, draping his coat around her shoulders. His voice was surprisingly gentle and she immediately felt bad for snapping at him.

"Thanks," she muttered, still not able to look him in the eye. She noticed that the coat smelled like Tseng. It wasn't as strong as the awful stuff that Reno sometimes wore, claiming that women loved it. It smelled of vanilla and cinnamon, but was somewhat muted, as though it had worn off from the long day. She hugged the coat around herself and walked back to the hotel.

"Wait, how come you aren't with Rufus?" she asked, stopping again.

"He's currently in a private meeting with several other delegates."

"Right, I see." They had reached the hotel, and Elena approached her door, thankful that the key had not fallen out of her pocket.

"After you've, um...changed, I need to talk to you about tomorrow," he said.

"Alright," she said, and opened the door. It clicked shut behind her. She took off Tseng's coat and set it on the chair in the corner. She peeled off her wet yukata and changed back into her pants and a fresh shirt. She zipped up her own jacket as far as it would go and left for Tseng's room.

She knocked on the door and Tseng answered. She realized that she had left his jacket in her room.

"Oh, I forgot your jacket," she said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it; come in," he said. He had several pieces of paper spread out on the table.

"The opening speeches are at 10:00," said Tseng. "So everyone will need to be set up by 9:30 at the latest," he continued. They went on to discuss the set up of the stage and where they would be stationed. He gathered the papers and put them in their folder. "You should get some sleep, Elena."

"You too, sir," she replied with a yawn. She walked back to her room and unzipped her jacket, placing it on the chair over Tseng's. She was about to change into her pajamas when she heard a knock on the door. She sighed and walked over to the door.

When she looked through the peephole, she found Rufus standing in front of the door. She quickly straightened out her shirt and ran a hand over her hair before she opened the door.

"Everything alright?" she asked, trying her best to keep her tone casual.

"Everything's fine," said Rufus. "May I come in?"

"Oh, of course," she said, standing to the side to allow him in and closing the door. "How did your meeting go?"

"It went well enough. I doubt that Mr. Wallace wanted to be in my presence, but even he knows when to keep his behavior in check," he said neutrally.

"I didn't know he'd be here."

"Believe it or not, Mr. Wallace may have found a viable energy source," replied Rufus thoughtfully. "The oil that he's discovered will probably be the center of our discussions for the next few days."

"So, are you ready then?" asked Elena tentatively. "For tomorrow?"

"Yes, I think so," he said. "Are you?"

"Yeah, Tseng talked to me earlier about it," she replied. He didn't say anything further, instead walking over to the window and gazing outside.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"No, not really," he replied. "Just wanted to talk to you."

"Oh..." she said. "What did you want to talk about then?" At first Elena thought that he wasn't going to answer her, as he didn't speak for quite some time. She looked out the window as well, sharing the view with him in silence.

"Have you ever been to Costa del Sol?" he asked finally, looking down at her.

"No, can't say I have."

"Would you like to go after this is over?" Elena was taken aback.

"With...you?" she stuttered.

"That's the idea," he said, smirking.

"Well...uh...alright," she said, unsure. His arm slid around her middle and pulled her close so that she was facing him. "Rufus...is this okay?" she asked, tensing up.

"Why wouldn't it be?" he asked evenly.

"Tseng is right next door. What if he...?" she trailed off.

"Hears something? We aren't doing anything," Rufus pointed out.

"Of course not," she said, shaking her head. He put his other arm around her, hugging her tightly. "Is something wrong?"

"No." His voice was soft but confident. She hesitantly put her arms around him. "Are you nervous about tomorrow, Elena?"

"I...well, maybe," she said uncertainly. "No, I'll be fine," she amended.

"Good to know."

"What about you?"

"Not when I've got two of the best bodyguards on my side." He smiled down at her. It wasn't a smirk, but a genuine smile. She blushed, taken off guard by his expression. This wasn't the Rufus that she was used to. Suddenly, she felt trapped and unable to move. He traced his thumb along her lip before guiding her face towards his. He put his lips to hers gently. She let the kiss deepen for just a moment before turning her face away. Her own breathing had quickened, and she could hear that his had as well. She let her hands drop to her sides, and he let go of her slowly.

"Elena?" Rufus asked softly, perplexed.

"Rufus, I can't..." she said, unable to meet his eyes.

"Can't what?"

"I don't know." She shook her head slowly. "I think you should get some sleep, sir," she said quietly. She turned away from him. He said nothing as he walked out, leaving her alone. She flopped on the bed, still fully dressed, burying her face in the pillow. Despite the late hour, she felt very awake.

-X-

Elena frowned in her sleep as she heard the incessant pounding on her door. She opened her eyes, a wave of pain rolling over her. Not only was her body sore, but she had a headache. She forced her legs over the edge of the bed, one at a time and pushed off, padding slowly to the door, and looking through the peephole. She gritted her teeth, realizing it was Tseng. She opened the door.

"Elena?"

"What?" she asked, her voice hoarse. He frowned at her, confused rather than angry.

"It's 9:00. We have to be over to the ceremony at 9:30," he said.

"Yeah, I know..." she slurred, running a hand through her hair.

"Is something wrong?" his tone was professional, but his facial expression concerned.

"Headache."

"Well, we need to leave in ten minutes," he said, raising an eyebrow before leaving her.

She was thoroughly awake now, aware of her need to get out of her rumpled clothes, shower, and pop some pain relievers that probably wouldn't kick in until the ceremony had already started.

_Stupid, stupid, STUPID._ She told herself as she furiously rinsed the shampoo from her hair. _Why did that have to happen last night? If only- no, now is not the time. Not the time to think about that. This __summit is too important, _she chastised herself. She managed to meet the two men down in the lobby in time. Rufus did not acknowledge her beyond a cold glance before turning away.

A/N – As always, thanks to **chibipinkbunny** for being my beta. So, next chapter is the summit! Hope you enjoyed this one!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The air was still fairly cool when the three arrived at the stage. The discussion and debates would be held indoors at the inn's large conference room, but the stage for the opening ceremony was set up outdoors just under the Da Chao mountains, with the sparkling ocean off to the left.

On the stage, several chairs had already been filled with the delegates, with Rufus and his two Turks being among the last to arrive. The seats in front of the stage were mostly full, the press shoved near the front, cameras and notepads at the ready. There was a buzz of excitement as people chattered amongst themselves, both in the audience and on stage. Tseng was out in the audience, while Elena would be sitting near Rufus. Both of them would be connected via a tiny earpiece and a microphone hidden by their suit jackets. Only a whisper was needed for the microphone to be heard.

Finally, Lord Godo stood up in front of the podium. The din from the crowd died down, until only the clicking of the photographers could be heard.

"Welcome delegates and honored guests, to the First Annual Summit on New Energy. We hope that this summit will open a dialogue on the energy crisis facing us today..." Elena flicked her eyes to her right. Rufus's face was held in a neutral expression, his eyes on Godo as the emperor continued to speak.

"...let us welcome President Rufus Shinra of the Shinra Electric Company to the podium," said Godo finally. There was a wave of polite, obligatory clapping as Lord Godo sat down and Rufus smoothed his suit before standing up to the podium. He and Godo exchanged a brief nod as they passed each other.

"We all are aware of the issues that mako energy causes, and while it has sufficed for a time, the damage it caused outweighed its benefits. As the Shinra company is responsible for mako energy, it is also our duty to find or financially back another source of energy. This summit comes at a time of change; the world is rebuilding and cannot afford to be without power."

Rufus went on. Elena kept her head straight ahead, making sure that she kept a lookout for anything suspicious. Her mind kept drifting toward the previous night but she forced herself back to the present by concentrating on the audience and the surrounding buildings. She had seen nothing suspicious yet, and she had to hold back a yawn.

"Elena."

She perked up immediately at the sound of Tseng's voice. "What is it?" she whispered, barely audible.

"Large tree nearest the green pagoda. There's no wind, but the tree's rustling." She glanced over to Tseng and saw that he was using his small set of binoculars. But he put them back in his pocket and shook his head; apparently whatever it was had disappeared.

"It could be an animal," she said.

"You're probably right, but I'm going to have a look." She watched him as he crossed behind the audience. She watched the tree for several minutes, but it was still. Her eyes wandered from the tree to the roof of the building nearby. It had a non-reflective, unpainted roof and a decorative finial. Most of the pagodas in the area also had them serving as lightning rods. A glint caught her eye, but it didn't come from the finial, rather it seemed to come from something on the roof. She squinted, wondering why the wood was reflecting light. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized the reason. She saw a dark object move along the side of the roof before disappearing again to the back of the building. There had been someone in the tree. And now they were on the roof. Her eyes flitted between the roof and Rufus. Rufus didn't appear to notice anything. The glint stabilized, as if it was getting ready to…

She jumped out of her seat and slammed into Rufus just as the shot rang out. He landed on the ground with a grunt.

She felt the sniper's round connect with her shoulder. She dropped to the ground, only half-aware of the screams rising from the crowd as people jumped out of their seats, running around haphazardly, hoping to get out of the open. The delegates on stage were hurried off the stage by their bodyguards. A puddle of blood was growing underneath her.

Rufus came to her side, shielded by the podium. His mouth was drawn in a tight line. His eyes were moving rapidly as though he were trying to figure out what to do.

"You should get out of here," she said weakly. He didn't move. "Go!" she said, with as much strength as she could muster.

Finally, he nodded reluctantly. "Don't die. I don't want to lose my best bodyguard," he told her, just loud enough to be heard over the din of the crowd. She gave him a weak smile as he took off.

"Elena!" She heard Tseng's voice and his rapid footsteps on the wood as he knelt down beside her. He tore off his coat and wrapped it tightly around her wound, stemming the bleeding for the time being. His eyes were wide with fear.

"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" she asked quietly. She was surprised at how calm it sounded when she was terrified on the inside.

"No!" Tseng exclaimed, shaking his head. "I'm not going to let that happen!"

Elena wanted to keep her eyes open, but she could feel blood still leaving her wound, despite the makeshift tourniquet. "Stay with me, Elena," he said firmly, panic coloring his voice.

The pain and her desire to fall asleep battled against each other before unconsciousness prevailed.

-X-

A steady beep roused Elena from her sleep, her shoulder throbbing. She didn't dare roll over to find the source of the beeping, but from the sterile white walls, she knew that she was in the hospital. A nurse walked in with, checking the clipboard at the foot of her bed.

"Good morning, Elena," said the nurse briskly.

"…" Elena was still feeling drowsy from the opiate pain medication in her system.

"How are you feeling today?"

"I don't know," she said, her voice raspy. "Okay, I guess."

"Well, you're lucky to be alive," said the nurse, studying the bag attached to the IV.

"How long have I been out?" she asked sleepily.

"Since yesterday. Gotta say, that was really brave of you to take a bullet for Rufus Shinra," she said, a hint of disdain in her voice.

"So that's what happened," said Elena distantly. She vaguely remembered seeing the glint of the sniper rifle, hearing the report of the bullet and shoving Rufus aside, but not much else.

"It was all over the news how one of the Turks saved President Shinra's life," continued the nurse.

"Yes, well, it's my job," said Elena as distant as she could manage. She remembered the night before last, how she had rejected Rufus when he was at his most vulnerable and wondered what he thought of her now. However, a knock brought her attention to the door.

"Elena?" Tseng asked tentatively. She turned her head a fraction to the right. His normally immaculate hair was somewhat messy.

"Tseng…" was all she could say as he walked over to sit down on the chair next to the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

She sighed. "Hurts a lot," she said.

"You were hit with a 7.62 NATO shell," he said. It took a moment for Elena to register how close her brush with death had been, especially with a bullet that large. "It shattered your collarbone. It's out now, obviously, but..." he trailed off. No wonder it hurt.

"Thank Gaia for modern medicine," she said blandly. Suddenly she felt something bubbling up in her stomach and moving into her throat. She clapped a hand over her mouth and Tseng grabbed a nearby basin, holding it out while Elena was forced to sit up so she wouldn't choke on her own vomit. Not only did her throat ache from lack of water, but her shoulder seared in pain as she sat upright.

"Let me take care of her," said the nurse. Tseng moved aside, and Elena threw up twice more. The nurse left with the basins, and Tseng moved back, looking at her with sympathy.

"I'm sorry," Elena whispered, not able to look at him. She leaned back slowly. She wanted to cry, but managed to hold back tears.

"It's alright," said Tseng gently. They were silent for a moment before Elena frowned.

"Where's Rufus?" she asked.

"Reno and Rude picked him up today and brought him back to Edge."

"So what's going to happen to the summit?"

"It will be rescheduled."

"I see..." said Elena. "Um…did he say anything about me before he left?" She cringed inwardly, knowing that Tseng would probably wonder why she was asking.

"He told Reno and Rude that you were going to be in the hospital," said Tseng.

"Oh." She couldn't help but feel some disappointment that Rufus didn't say anything more. "Why are you still here?"

"The Wutai police are conducting an investigation. I'm going to try to get some information from them," said Tseng. He checked his watch. "Speaking of, I should be off now."

"Are you going to come back?" Elena blurted out.

"I'll do what I can," he said, and left. The only sound in the room was the steady blip of the monitors. Elena felt hot tears run down her face, though she was unable to figure out why she suddenly felt so sad.

-X- The next day

Elena flipped through the channels, avoiding the news, which replayed the moments repeatedly just before the sniper shot her while reporters and politicians discussed the summit and attack.

She finally settled on a nature show. _"Here we see the normally calm chocobo use its attack, Choco Meteo, on a wild Griffin that mistook the bird for easy prey..."_ A nurse knocked the frame of the open door.

"You've got a visitor," she said. Tseng walked in and sat down in the chair. "And I'll be bringing your lunch in a minute."

"You came back," said Elena bluntly, fidgeting with the sheets.

"Yes, I'll be here until you leave," he said. "I...brought you something." He set a book of crossword puzzles in front of her. "I figured you might want something to do."

"No paperwork?" she joked.

"Not now," he said with a small smile. "Though once we know more about the sniper, there'll be plenty of that," he said with a resigned sigh. The nurse brought in Elena's lunch and set it down in front of her. Elena looked at the food, wrinkling her nose. She dipped her spoon in the stainless steel bowl of lumpy, watery oatmeal and lifted it above the dish, watching it drip back into the bowl. She had been trying to eat the food for several days but only managed to get down a few mouthfuls before losing her appetite.

"Doesn't look very appealing, does it?" commented Tseng, watching her stir around the oatmeal. She looked up at him to find him with a thoughtful look on his face. "Perhaps I could get you something better."

"Well…um…" Elena stopped stirring the oatmeal. In truth, she did want something else. "I mean, I don't want to impose…"

"It's important that you eat," he said. He left the room and returned soon after with a box of plain white rice and some broccoli beef. "Hopefully this is better." Elena looked at the broccoli beef skeptically.

"Just the rice, I think," she said. He handed her the rice while he kept the broccoli beef.

"Thank you," she said. She took a few tentative bites at first, but her hunger took over and she quickly scarfed it down. By the time her doctor had walked in, the boxes had been disposed of. He looked at the tray.

"Not hungry, Elena?" he asked, looking at the tray with all the food on it. She shook her head truthfully. The rice had filled her up.

"When do I get to leave?" she asked.

"In about two weeks. And then you've got a lot of physical therapy ahead of you," he replied. Elena groaned.

"I just want this to be over," she said wearily. She lie back down on.

"I need to be going now, Elena," said Tseng, standing up. The doctor finished checking her over, and he left as well.

Tseng came to visit her nearly every day, even though he had to leave shortly afterwards on some days. He told her that he was talking to the Wutai police and officials, trying to figure out anything he could and keeping in touch with the president and other two Turks.

Unfortunately, when Tseng wasn't around, it gave her a lot of time to think about Rufus. He was an excellent businessman and politician, holding onto his dignity and self-worth even knowing that he was hated by most of the planet's citizens. She was just the rookie Turk while he was the president of a company in ruins. _The fact that I can't even think of us as Rufus and Elena is…_Her mind trailed off.

But suddenly, after all the long hours of mulling it over, it became clear in an instant. When she had pushed him away that night, he had closed himself off. Even after taking a bullet for him, she was now merely his bodyguard again. A good, dedicated bodyguard, but still just an employee. And she hadn't heard a word from him ever since he had left. She knew what it meant, and let out a shaky sigh, tears rolling down her face. After awhile, all of her stewing and mulling over Rufus stopped, and she was left with a dull feeling of loss hanging heavily on her.

-X- Two weeks later

Elena's bag was already packed up and put on the helicopter. She had reluctantly agreed to be wheeled out of the hospital once she realized it was regulation. Her shoulder was extraordinarily stiff. Anytime she shifted, she experienced pain that would have been far worse than if she hadn't had the bottle of painkillers.

She insisted on getting into the helicopter herself, though jumping in like she usually did certainly wasn't on option. It was amazing that getting shot in one place could cause difficulty in seemingly unrelated tasks. When she had been shot by Yazoo, the shots had gone through clean or had glanced off. While painful, they were far easier to deal with and had a shorter recovery time.

It had taken her twice as long to get dressed, and she was no longer wearing the button down shirt she was used to. Instead, she was wearing a long, loose t-shirt over her suit pants. The t-shirt was far easier to put on and take off with just one arm available for use.

Several hours later, they landed on top of the new Shinra office. They both got off the helicopter and walked to the rear doors to unload the bags. Tseng took out both bags.

"I've got it, Elena," he said. They walked back inside the office side by side.

"ELENA!" came Reno's unmistakable voice. "Oh hi, boss," he tossed in, not even bothering to look at Tseng. Instead, he ran over to Elena. "You're alive! Man, I'm gonna KILL whoever did this to you," he said. She gave him a weak smile, knowing that given the opportunity, he probably would have killed the sniper in the slowest and most painful way possible. While the redhead was laid back most of the time, he could be lethal when properly motivated, especially when a fellow Turk was involved.

"Glad to see you too, Reno," she said. "Hi, Rude."

"Welcome back," he grunted.

"It's nice to be back here," she replied.

"Back to work, you two," said Tseng briskly, after he had set down the bags in the office.

"So when do we get our hands on that bastard?" asked Reno, instead of returning to his own desk.

"He was transported to the WRO headquarters last week. What happened at the summit is being treated as a terrorist incident," replied Tseng.

"Who's going to be responsible for the questioning?" she asked.

"We aren't," said Tseng tightly. "The WRO is."

"Are you friggin' kidding me?" Reno exclaimed in disbelief.

"No, I'm not," said Tseng.

"So that's it, huh?" asked Elena, sighing.

"For the time being," he replied.

Reno slunked off, his expression dark. Rude followed him and they could hear him grumbling in the office next door.

She sat down at her desk, turning on the computer. She put her arms up to type rather awkwardly due to the sling. A searing pain ran through her shoulder and she winced. Tseng's back was turned to her, so he didn't see her face contort for the brief moment. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of her jacket and smoothed it out. It was the referral for the physical therapist in the area, Craig Sherman. She picked up the phone, dialed the number on the paper, and made an appointment.

-X-

Elena walked into Craig Sherman's office the next day at 3:50, her arm still in a sling. Craig was a man of medium build, wearing shorts and a polo shirt. There were several beds lined up along the back wall, with several balance balls and various pieces of exercise equipment around the large room.

"Hello…Elena, right?" he said, looking down at a clipboard.

"Yep."

He shook his head. "Wow, just wow. You're a brave girl," he said. "Gunshot wound, huh? It'll take some time, but we'll have you up and running again." They walked over to one of the beds.

"Alright, lie down on the table so I can take a look at what we're dealing with." He felt around her shoulder, barely touching the wound. She hissed in pain when he touched certain spots, and he made notes on his clipboard. They started out with exercises aimed at increasing her strength around her injured shoulder. They started exercises to increase the range of motion, but didn't get very far. Her eyes started to tear up, but she refused to let them fall. Finally, to her great relief, the session was over and he handed her a sheet of paper with exercises that she should do at home. She made another appointment before leaving, and walked back to her apartment. She struggled through taking a shower and getting her pajamas on early.

Elena felt exhausted, pain occasionally throbbing through her shoulder. She climbed into bed, carefully settling herself on her back. But she couldn't sleep, despite being tired. She had taken some of the pain medication earlier and was waiting for them to kick in. Time seemed to slow down, and she remembered that the doctor told her it would take at least two months to make a recovery. Eventually she fell into a shallow sleep.

It seemed like only a minute later pain shot through her shoulder and she let out a tight scream. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she realized that she had rolled onto her left shoulder. She quickly rolled onto her back, but the pain didn't subside for quite some time, and she eventually fell back into a restless sleep.

She woke up hours later, feeling unrefreshed and incredibly sore. Reaching desperately for the pain pills, she gulped them down. She put on her suit pants and a loose shirt, and put the sling back on before trudging to the office.

"Good morning, sir," she mumbled.

"Good morning, Elena," Tseng said. "How are you today?"

"Could be worse, I guess," Elena said. After about an hour, the pain pills finally started to kick in.

She sat down at her computer and stared at the blank screen. It was only nine in the morning, and yet she was already wishing that she could go home. She went through the routine of checking e-mail and typing the report of the failed summit.

-X-

The rest of the week went by quietly. It didn't help that Rufus was once again locked in his office, constantly on conference calls. She thought that she had gotten over Rufus while at the hospital, but being in close quarters with him caused her to start thinking about him all over again. She suddenly remembered the feel of his lips on hers, and the sudden sadness that it would never happen again. She wondered if she should just go up and knock on his door. He had to be at least a little grateful that she had taken a bullet for him. But she spent so much time deliberating that it was easier to sit rather than approach him only to be rebuffed.

However, the following Monday Elena came in to find Tseng and Rufus having a heated discussion outside Tseng's office. They immediately stopped when they saw her. When Rufus glanced at her, his expression was neutral, whereas Tseng looked more concerned than usual.

"What's going on?" she asked warily.

"It took the WRO several days to get information out of that sniper. He finally broke and told them about a rather well-stocked weapons storehouse." Elena was able to put the pieces together. If the sniper had been an amateur, it would have only taken a few hours at most to get everything out of him. Instead, they were dealing with a trained professional. In addition, if they had a storehouse full of weapons, it meant that they were likely well funded.

"So…what are we going to do?" she asked. Tseng and Rufus exchanged a look.

Tseng sighed. "Elena, there's something we need to talk to you about."

A/N – Woo, that was a long wait and I apologize for it. This was a difficult chapter to write, and I have several folks to thank. **chibipinkbunny** for being the beta and providing the medical knowledge, **cookiecat **for the gunshot logistics, and **Blue Jae **for her idea about the communicators. Now that school's started again, who knows how much I'll be able to write. But rest assured that I have Chapter 8 started and I won't just not finish the story because that's not fair to the readers.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"What's going on?" she asked, her gaze flickering between Rufus and Tseng. Rufus was sitting behind his desk in his office, while Tseng sat next to her in front of the desk. Rufus's expression was calm; his hands folded loosely in front of him.

"Elena..." began Rufus. He paused, the silence stretching out, making Elena even more aware of her quickened breathing and heart rate. "We have talked long and hard about this, and we have decided to remove you from your duties as a Turk." Elena blinked.

"What? Why?" she burst out, forgetting all decorum.

Rufus continued on in a neutral voice. "Your injury. It will prevent you from doing the assignments given to you."

Elena's mouth dropped, and she looked to Tseng, hoping that he would say something in her defense.

"Tseng agrees with me," said Rufus.

"But the therapy-," she protested.

"The company will continue to pay for the therapy," said Rufus simply.

"That's not what I meant!" she exclaimed. "I'll get better."

"Elena, do you know about Evan?" asked Tseng. She shook her head slowly. "He was a Turk too. His injury was similar to yours. He insisted he could get better. We sent him on a mission and...he wasn't able to defend himself in time and died at the hands of a slum thief."

"That's just one-," interrupted Elena.

"There are several others I could name who have been gravely injured in the line of duty," Tseng continued, not meeting Elena's eyes.

"Are you including yourself, _sir_?" asked Elena pointedly.

"I'm perfectly capable of performing my job," he said evenly. "Any injuries I've sustained I've recovered from fully."

"You would have bled to death in the Northern Cave if I hadn't helped you," Elena said, then turned to Rufus. "And you'd be dead, sir."

"Yes, you saved my life, Elena. And for that, I am grateful," he said. "However, to allow you to continue as you are would put not only you but your fellow Turks in danger."

Elena opened her mouth, wanting to argue back. But she knew that with both Rufus and Tseng behind the decision, no amount of begging and pleading would sway them. She gritted her teeth. "I'll go clean out my desk," she said flatly.

"You're not being fired, Elena," said Rufus. "Your position will simply no longer include missions."

"So I'm just at my desk from now on," she said slowly. Neither Tseng nor Rufus spoke for a second, both knowing how much being a Turk meant to Elena.

"…That's correct," said Rufus. Elena stared at her hands for a minute before finally looking up.

"Am I excused?" she asked finally.

"Yes, you can go now," said Tseng. Without a backwards look, Elena left the office. She kept her head down, hoping that she didn't see Rude or Reno-

"Hey, Elena," came the redhead's voice.

"…" Elena gritted her teeth.

"Huh?" he asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"Go away, Reno," said Elena, glaring at him. She remembered that she had been promoted precisely because HE had been in the hospital. HE didn't have to go in front of Tseng and Rufus to be told he was being removed from his duties. She walked past him and shut the door to her office. She put her head down on her desk for a moment, not wanting to think about what had just happened.

She forced herself to work on the report that she'd started the previous day. Several minutes later, Tseng walked in. Immediately, Elena tensed and kept her eyes on the screen, anything to avoid looking at Tseng as he rummaged around the desk for some papers before leaving without a word to Elena.

He seemed to move in and out of the office for the remainder of the day, going into Rude and Reno's office and talking to them in hushed voices. She glared at the screen, hating that she was now considered an outsider. An alert popped up on her screen, reminding her of her physical therapy appointment, but now that she was no longer a Turk, Elena didn't really feel like there was any point in going. Instead of heading towards the therapist that afternoon, she headed towards her apartment instead.

-X-

The dull pain in her shoulder woke Elena up before the alarm clock did. She groaned and pushed herself up off the bed. The previous day's events came rushing back, and it became even more difficult to actually get ready for work. She looked at her Turk suit, half wondering if she was going to be forced to wear something else now. _Screw it._ She put the suit on anyway and forced herself to walk to the office.

Tseng was not in when Elena arrived. As she made her way through the final part of her report, there was a knock at the door. To her surprise, it was Rufus. Elena held back a scowl and forced her expression to look neutral.

"Um…is there something I can do for you, sir?" asked Elena tightly.

"Elena, I was thinking," he began thoughtfully, ignoring the tone in her voice. "Perhaps you'd like to work on a project for me?" It wasn't a request.

"…" Elena waited for him to go on.

"The public service campaign was a large success and there are quite a few requests coming in. I think you would make a good leader for that particular project. I'm sure you can get this done by the end of the week." It was already Wednesday.

"Excuse me?" Elena was shocked.

"Here are the requests," said Rufus, holding up a fat manila folder and setting it down in front of her. He turned and left her with the folder. Elena picked up the folder and paged through it, her eyes widening as she saw all the dull work that she would have to go through. She gritted her teeth and got up, folder in hand.

Elena knew that storming up to Rufus's office would only make her look bad, so she kept up the appearance of calm as she knocked on the door. "It's Elena."

"Come in," said Rufus, sounding as though he expected it.

"Sir, with all due respect I have no idea how I'm supposed to organize this public service campaign within two days," she said, as calmly as she could manage. "There are quite a few departments here, and I'd need to know what people's schedules were like, which would involve calling all the heads of departments up and finding not only suitable times for them to work but suitable service projects as well."

"Yes, that's the idea," he said calmly. "I'm sure you can do it. If you'll excuse me, I have an important call to make." He turned away from Elena. She sighed, exasperated, and huffed out of the office. The rest of the day she floundered, feeling frustrated and overwhelmed until it was time to go home.

-X-

The evening was cold as Elena walked back to her apartment. She sighed, thinking about the monotonous night ahead of her: heating up a microwave dinner, sitting in front of the television and going to bed, fully expecting to be woken up by the pain…

"Hey, I'm talkin' to you!" A scratchy, deep voice forced Elena back to the present moment. With a jolt of fear in her stomach, she realized that she didn't know where she was. She spun around to find a burly man hurrying towards her. She pulled out her gun and aimed out of reflex, but pain shot through her bad arm and shoulder as she whipped her arm up. The gun fired and missed its target. Elena fell against the side of the building, instinctively putting a hand to her shoulder and dropping the gun. He pulled her away from the building, and jerked her purse from her before pushing her to the ground and running off in the direction he had come.

"Come back!" screamed Elena, knowing full well how futile it was. Elena suddenly felt very small.

She grabbed her gun forced herself to get up and run after the man. With every step she took, pain raced through her shoulder and she gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it. She soon lost track of the man and stopped. She slammed her good fist into the nearest building.

"Dammit," she hissed. Her breathing was labored as angry tears fell from her eyes. _Tseng and Rufus were right! _She turned around and began walking, hoping that she would recognize where she was. She looked around at the surrounding buildings, feeling as though she had been here before. The brightest light came from a building just to her right. She looked up at the sign above the door only to find that it read "7th Heaven."

"Elena? Is that you?" a curious female voice called out. She wiped the tears forcefully from her face before turning around. It was Tifa Lockheart. The martial artist's eyes widened. "What happened to you?"

Elena sighed shakily. "My purse got stolen," she said flatly.

"Oh, Elena…" said Tifa carefully, knowing that Elena probably didn't want pity. "Why don't you come in?"

Elena hesitated, but walked in. To her shock, Reno, Rude and Tseng were all sitting at a table. "If you want to sit down with them, I'll get you-," Tifa began.

"I'll sit at the bar," said Elena flatly. She walked past the Turks without a glance and took a seat at one of the stools.

"Um, alright," said Tifa, sounding confused. "What would you like?"

"I don't care," said Elena. She set her head down on the counter, running a hand through her dirty and tangled hair. She took stock of her suit, which had grime and several small tears in it. She heard someone walk up behind her and didn't bother to look back.

"Elena?" Reno's voice was tentative.

"Go away," she said. She gritted her teeth when she heard two more sets of footsteps coming up behind her.

"What happened to you?" Reno pressed on.

"My purse got stolen, now will you please leave me alone?" she asked, her voice raised as she turned around. Reno looked stunned for a moment before his expression turned dangerous.

"Where'd he head off to? I'll go after him myself," he said quietly.

"Don't bother," said Elena, growing impatient. "I'll be going now." She stood up and pushed passed the three.

"Perhaps I should go with you?" offered Tseng tentatively.

"Stay away from me," she growled and turned towards the door. Tifa came back with a large mug of beer, only to look confused when she saw Elena walking out. Tseng moved to go after her, but Rude shook his head and followed Elena out the door.

Elena hadn't gotten very far when she heard Rude calling after her. She stopped and turned as he walked over to her.

"He cares, you know," he said.

"If he cared, he wouldn't have fired me."

"You weren't fired."

"You know what I mean," she said impatiently. "And now…" she let out an angry, shuddering sigh. Her purse was gone because she had been unable to defend herself, proving Rufus's and Tseng's point.

"You should go to the police station," he said gently.

"Yeah," said Elena quietly. She walked to the station, not caring that Rude walked silently beside her. By the time she had reached the station, she had calmed down enough to give her report to the officer at the desk.

"Excuse me, um, I'd like to report a stolen purse," she said, embarrassed. The officer, a gruff middle- aged man looked up at her.

"Aren't you-?" he began. Rude cleared his throat.

"Alright, miss, fill this form out," he said, handing her a pen and paper. She did so and asked for a copy. _At least I got a good look at the guy_, she thought. The officer made a copy of the form and handed it to her. "Okay, miss, you want to make sure to cancel all your credit cards, change your locks, and get a new drivers' license…"

"Right, thanks," mumbled Elena when he had finished off his list. "I'm going to go now," she said to Rude.

"You'll be alright?"

"Fine." She walked back to her apartment. She cringed at the fact that she had to pick her own lock. A non-Turk might be okay with leaving a spare key in the plant or under the "welcome" mat, but she had no desire to get robbed. And now that her attacker had both her address and keys, she was even more aware of every creak and groan that her apartment made that night. She slept lightly that night, making sure that her gun was loaded and kept in her nightstand, making sure it was easy to get at within a moment's notice.

-X-

Elena's alarm went off far too early, and she was sorely tempted to shoot the thing. While her shoulder was still tender, she noticed that it was hurting far less than it had been. Unfortunately, it remained stiff and her left arm didn't move as freely as her right arm. She made her way to the office, a surge of anger rising inside her as she walked along without her purse. The scene from the night replayed in her head over and over, distracting her from the task at hand, and she narrowly missed bumping into people.

Tseng hadn't been in the office much lately, and she found the absence distracting, in addition to the previous evening's events. But she used her Turk training to force herself to concentrate on the task assigned to her. After making more phone calls than she cared to, she had come up with a tentative schedule for a few of the departments and brought it up to Rufus's office.

"Come in," said Rufus after Elena had knocked.

"I've brought these for your approval, sir," said Elena, her voice clipped. She set down a packet of papers. He took a cursory glance at them before turning back to his computer screen.

"Why do I need to approve them?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows and bit back frustration. "Well, sir, I figure you might want to make sure that what I've done is correct, as I was never trained for this job," she said pointedly.

"Elena," said Rufus calmly.. "I trust you. You don't need to bring these to me."

"Uh…yes, sir," she said and hurried to the door.

"Elena, I-," he began suddenly, causing Elena to freeze where she stood. "I need to tell you something."

A/N – Sorry for getting this out so late…unfortunately that thing called schoolwork kicked in and now I don't have as much time to get chapters out. As always, hugs and thank you to **chibipinkbunny** for being my ever loyal beta reader. I truly appreciate all the faves, alerts and reviews you guys have been giving me ^_^ Thanks a bunch!


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